The Dead Zone
by nikkimurray
Summary: Lester predicted this would happen in series one, and now it has. A Nick And Jenny story obviously - it's me lol! Other characters include Conner, Abby, Lester and Becker. Enjoy!
1. Two days into the future

**Okay, so I always do this to myself. Exams are round the corner, and suddenly whilst revising the various forms of a bacteriophage, an idea pops into my head for a new fanfic! I am a very self-destructive person lol! **

**So we'll see where this one takes us; it's set after Stephen's funeral. **

**Let me know what you think :D**

Chapter 1

The door burst open and Conner flung himself into the dimly lit room, followed closely by Abby and Cutter who were carrying an unconscious Jenny in their arms. Her dark hair fell over her face with the jolting movement, and her forehead sported a deep cut that was bleeding freely. One of her arms was around Cutter's neck, and the other around Abby's; and each of them held one of Jenny's legs tightly.

"Hurry, it's coming!" Conner shouted in a strained voice.

Abby dropped to the floor and Cutter lent a motionless Jenny against her before scampering up to join Conner at the huge metallic door.

"Jenny!" Abby said in a panicked voice, shaking Jenny's shoulders. Her head lolled onto Abby's arm, but she did not wake up. "Jenny, it's time! Can you wake up?" she added, holding Jenny's head up. Jenny groaned slightly, obviously struggling to regain consciousness.

"Come on!" Abby whispered, slapping Jenny's heavily scratched cheek slightly to try and rouse her.

Lester sprinted in after them, his face flushed and his hair wind-swept.

"Close it!" he barked, clutching his chest and gasping for breath.

"What about Becker!" Conner asked in an accusatory tone. "We can't just leave him up there!"

"He'd want us to!" Lester argued, straightening up. "It's his job!"

"Just give him a minute!" Cutter interjected, scanning the corridor wildly.

"If one of those things get in here, were all dead!" Lester bellowed, his face red with fury.

Everyone ignored him, and stared at the door intently, holding their breath in anticipation. Becker should have been down here by now . . . something must have happened . . .

Abby hoisted Jenny up more so that her head rested on her chest; the cut on her forehead bleeding onto Abby's top which was saturated deep red in seconds.

"Come on," Cutter muttered to himself, wringing his hands together unconsciously. "Come on, where are you . . ."

Then out of the darkness of the corridor came the sound that chilled everyone to the bone . . . the ear-splitting clicking sound they had come to know and dread.

"Lock it!" Lester ordered, his face contorted in fear.

They had to do it . . . they had no choice.

Conner and Cutter scampered behind the door and began to push it closed, but it was too heavy . . . it must have weighed a tonne! Lester reluctantly hurried over to help them, and slowly, it started to move. It was almost closed . . .

Suddenly, the Predators head appeared in the gap, causing the three men to jump back in fright. Then, they pushed harder, trying to force it backwards. However, with one thrashing movement of it's gigantic head, they were all thrown back, and flew across into the corner in a heap. The creature entered the room, still clicking wildly as it approached the girls.

"Jenny," Abby said numbly, clutching her unconscious friend tighter.

The Predator advanced on them slowly, as though savoring every moment as it surveyed it's helpless prey.

_**Two days earlier . . .**_


	2. The date that never happened

Chapter 2

_**Two days earlier . . .**_

The ARC had become much quieter since Stephen's death; whether it was because of the grief the team felt at the loss of one of it's members, or due to the realization that any one of them could actually die doing this job, Cutter was unsure. For the last few weeks, the team had become rather robotic in their endeavors, responding to each anomaly alert with the same stiff routine. Cutter constantly found himself at his desk, flicking through the many research files they had without actually taking in any of there content. On one particular night, he had assumed that he was quite alone, as the bustling sounds of every day ARC life had dissipated, and he was lost in his own thoughts. His own thoughts about Stephen. No matter how much time passed, he could still see his best friend being surrounded by those countless creatures; he, himself, was banging on the glass.

"_Stephen, open the door!" Cutter yelled, fear pulsating through his body. "Open it!"_

"_I can't do it Nick," Stephen replied with a sad smile. "Tell Conner and Abby . . . tell them to stay out of trouble!"_

"_Stephen, no!"_

_. . ._

"Cutter?" a soft familiar voice said, yanking him out of his thoughts.

It was Claudia Brown's beautiful face he saw in front of him, merely inches from his own. No . . . it was Jenny's beautiful face . . . _Jenny._ Not Claudia. Although she had started looking at lot more like Claudia of late. Perhaps it was the downgrading of her wardrobe to much more practical attire, or maybe it was the fresh face that was free of the layers of make up. Cutter didn't know whether he was glad of this change in Jenny or not. On the one hand, it was much harder for him to keep up the cold persona he had adopted towards her. Every time he spotted her from across the ARC, he seemed to melt; why did she have to go around wearing that face? The face that didn't belong to her! It belonged to Claudia! His Claudia Brown! But on the other hand (and this was the part that disgusted him slightly), it secretly thrilled him. Was he so shallow that he could fall in love with this woman just because she was identical to Claudia? No, he refused to be that kind of man . . .

"Don't you ever go home?" Jenny asked in obvious amusement. With _that _voice. That voice that haunted his dreams . . . and his waking life too. "You can't take this personally, you know," she continued. "No one blames you."

"For what?" Cutter asked, knowing full well what she was referring to.

"For what happened to Stephen," she replied quietly, leaning over his desk a little more. "It wasn't your fault."

"I know," Cutter nodded, trying hard not to notice the gentle ripples in her hair as the moved her head. "It was Helen's."

"Then why are you blaming yourself?" she asked gently. Why did this woman seem to understand him so?

"Because I should have stopped it," Cutter admitted, aware that he wouldn't have told any one else that particular thought. "It's my job."

"But you can't change the past," Jenny said wisely, and as it is, rather ironically.

Cutter laughed before he could help himself.

"You don't know the half of it Claudia Brown," he smirked, looking up into her brown eyes that had narrowed slightly at the use of the 'taboo' name.

"Okay," she sighed, straightening up and grabbing her briefcase. "I'm out of here."

Cutter suppressed the odd desire he suddenly had to ask her to stay, and looked down at the files on his desk as she turned to leave. But he sensed that she had stopped short of walking away, and he looked back up as she turned to face him again, looking rather nervous. It seemed as though she had something to say, but was unsure how to say it. She looked down at him and bit her lip slightly.

"Do you want to get something to eat?" she blurted out quickly, as though she wanted to get it out as quickly as possible. "I'm starving," she added, her eyes searching his face for a reaction.

Cutter lent back in his chair and surveyed her for a moment. Was she actually asking him out on a date? As he recalled, at Stephen's funeral she had mentioned them going for a drink at some point, but the invitation had seemed rather casual at the time. But now he thought back on it, maybe there had been more in it than that. But if he agreed, what sort of message would that send Jenny? That he was ready to embark in a relationship with her? And that was something he really didn't want . . . did he? But maybe he was reading to much into this; after all, it was just getting something to eat. It's not like she was proposing. And anyway, how arrogant would he have to be to think he could make this woman fall for him twice? Surely this wouldn't mean anything?

"Yeah," he nodded eventually. "I could do with something to eat."

She smiled which made her face light up wonderfully, and suddenly, hopelessly, Cutter was breathless.

_Stop it,_ Cutter thought to himself as he stood up and followed her out of the office, trying hard not to allow his gaze to travel down to her buttocks as she walked. _Just because she looks like Claudia, it doesn't give you the right to think about her like that. She's you're colleague. _

"So where do you want to go?" Jenny asked, as she slowed down to walk by his side.

"Erm . . ." Cutter said thoughtfully. "There's a McDonalds not far from here?"

"A McDonalds?" she repeated in cold amusement as they walked through the double doors. "God, no wonder you've been single for nine years."

"Well I seem to have struck your fancy," Cutter teased, forgetting the secret deal he had made with himself to end all flirtatious banter with her.

"Don't flatter yourself," Jenny scoffed, a pinkish tinge appearing on her cheeks. "I was hungry . . . and I hate eating alone . . . "

"I don't blame you," Cutter replied. "I've seen you eat and it's not a pretty sight."

Jenny chuckled and looked away from him in obvious embarrassment.

They didn't end up at McDonalds, but Jenny's request of a certain fancy restaurant where nothing on the menu looked edible fell on deaf ears also. They agreed on a compromise of a local diner -slash-pub, which may have been a bit below Jenny's standards, but it was one of the only places that was open at this hour that served alcohol. As they sat down at a table near the window and picked up the menu, it suddenly struck Cutter that he had never been alone with Jenny for an extended period of time. With the exception of the drives to anomaly sight, and the odd moments were the team had hurried off to do something, he had never found himself in a position were he had to make small talk with her. Now that he thought about it, perhaps he had avoided it on purpose; to keep her at arms length and stop himself becoming attached to her. And to stop himself becoming overly interested in her life. But saying that, that was when she had a life; a fiancé that he found himself obsessed with, and yet at the same time not wanting to know anything about. It just hurt too much. But now she was single. Single and apparently interested in _him_. He suddenly found himself wondering what would happen between them if they were left alone for a while. Not that he would want anything to happen . . . why would he? She wasn't Claudia, despite how much she looked like her.

********

Jenny fidgeted slightly in her seat as she scanned the menu she held in front of her. Suddenly this seemed like a very bad idea. She had never asked out a man in her life. Why would she? Surely it was down to the guy to make the first move - well that's what she had been lead to believe. But Cutter was so infuriatingly different to any other man; perhaps that was why she felt herself attracted to him. And the blonde hair and piercing blue eyes didn't hurt either . . . but for that one fleeting second, she had lost her head completely and asked him out. She felt rather embarrassed about that now; he must think that she was desperate, which she was sure was not the most attractive quality. Still, he had agreed. That must mean something mustn't it?

She gave Cutter a fleeting glance and observed that his brow was furrowed as he concentrated a little bit too hard on the menu. Perhaps he was as nervous as she was? For some reason this thought calmed her slightly. The waiter slouched over.

"Anything looking good there?" Jenny asked Cutter, breaking the silence.

"Yes," he answered, putting down his menu. "The whiskey."

Jenny laughed and mirrored him by placed her menu down also.

"Make that two," she said to the waiter. He nodded glumly and walked off, looking like he was about ten seconds away from hanging himself from his own shower cord.

Jenny looked back round at Cutter and saw he was staring at her in shock.

"What?" she asked defensively.

"A whiskey?"

"What, I can drink!" Jenny insisted. "I can drink you under the table anyway."

"I thought you were starving?" Cutter asked in disbelief.

"Well I've lost my appetite," Jenny answered, looking around the grotty diner. "Anything I order from here would probably still be alive on my plate."

"Can you be more of a snob?"

"There's nothing wrong with having standards when it comes to food," Jenny answered in a whisper as the waiter walked back over with their drinks. "Just because you shovel anything within arms reach into your mouth - thank you," she added to the waiter as he set down their whiskeys.

"Cheers," Cutter said, raising his glass with a smile.

"Cheers," Jenny repeated, clinking her glass against his.

Cutter took a large gulp of his drink. Jenny sipped hers and felt the brown liquid trickle down her throat, igniting a fire as it went, making her feel slightly light-headed for a moment.

"You okay?" Cutter asked, setting down his glass.

"Yes," she shuddered, before composing herself. "It's just stronger than I'm used to."

"I thought you could drink me under the table?" he reminded her in amusement.

"Just let me get into my stride," Jenny smiled back, cupping her glass with both hands.

********

An hour later, a nearly empty bottle of whiskey that they had requested was sitting at the end of the table. Cutter had to admit; he was enjoying himself. He was finally getting to know Jenny Lewis as herself, and not in a PR mode. He was quite shocked to find that when her guard down, she was a hell of a lot like Claudia, from the way she tucked her hair behind her ear to the way she stroked her glass slightly as she spoke. Then again, what should he expect? She was the same person after all. Well, underneath all her Jenny-isms anyway.

Cutter himself felt quite tipsy, which was odd as he had been known to polish off whole bottle by himself before and feel fine. However, Jenny had kept to her end of the bargain; she seemed to be able to hold her alcohol more than any woman he had never met.

"See, I told you," she laughed when he voiced this thought aloud, as she reclined back slightly.

"I'm impressed," Cutter admitted, pouring them another drink. He handed her glass to her and watched her take a gulp. Perhaps it was the whiskey finally taking his toll, but he all of a sudden had a burning question he wanted to know. "Jenny?"

"Mmm?"

"Can I ask you something?"

Jenny nodded, straightening up slightly.

"When we were stuck in those cells in Leek's building - ?"

Jenny looked down and smiled in a slightly embarrassed manner as though she knew what he was about to say. However, she remained silent and allowed him to keep speaking.

" - you said something," he continued lamely, suddenly losing his bottle.

"Did I?" she said, a mock-innocent look on her face.

"You said you'd been feeling differently?" he said tentively, looking at her hard. She looked down resolutely at the table in silence and fiddled with the edge of her menu. "What - what did you mean by that?"

She sighed slightly and looked up at him.

"What do you think I meant?" she asked quietly.

"I don't know," Cutter answered honestly. "That's why I'm asking."

After a slight pause, Jenny continued.

"I meant that when Mark broke off the engagement, I . . . I didn't really care . . ."

Cutter noticed that he was sitting on the edge of his seat in anticipation, and immediately sat back slightly so as not to look so eager.

" . . . In fact, I was quite glad," she carried on shakily.

"Why?"

"You know why," she said quietly, looking up at him again.

Cutter felt temporarily speechless; he was not expecting her answer to be so direct. For a few moments all he could do was stare back at her, watching her expression change from sheepish to confused.

"Say something," she said in a strained voice.

Cutter opened his mouth to reply, but shut it again when he realized he had no idea what he was going to say. He knew what he wanted to say; but somewhere in the back of his head, it felt like he would be cheating on Claudia's memory.

"Let's get you some food, you've had a bit to drink," he stammered, gesturing over to the waiter.

Jenny's expression fell into a look of disbelief as she looked downwards again, laughing slightly.

"You know what?" she said, rooting around in her bag and pulling out a twenty-pound note that she threw on the table. "Just forget it."

She got up, staggering slightly, and walked away without looking back.

********

The rain that splattered on Jenny's face was ice cold and felt like hundreds of needles piercing her skin. She felt that she was unsteady on her feet, but kept on walking, determined not to stop until she was home and could bury her face in her pillow and scream. All she could feel was a burning shame in the pit of her stomach.

"Jenny!" Cutter's voice floated over to her from the diner door.

She didn't turn around, but heard him jog up behind her.

"Jenny?" he repeated as he reached her.

"Just leave me alone Nick."

"Let me take you home. You can't drive - "

"So I'll get a taxi," she replied shortly.

"Alone at this time at night?"

She turned around to face him, fighting back the tears that threatened to engulf her completely. His top was already saturated with rain.

"Why would you care how I get home?" she spat, feeling the tendrils of soaked hair around her face drip water.

"Don't do this - "

"Do what?' she snapped, stalking off again. She felt him following her close behind. "I'm a complete idiot!" she burst out.

"No you're not - "

"I have just made a complete fool out of myself!"

"Jenny, please," he said, grabbing her arm and spinning her round. "Just listen to me."

"There's nothing left to say!" she shrieked, determined to put as much space in between Cutter and herself as possible. "There's absolutely nothing you can do - "

She was silenced immediately as she felt Cutter's wet lips press against her's roughly. She was so taken-aback by this unexpected gesture that she parted her lips involuntarily. After a few seconds, she pulled away slowly.

"Except that," she gulped, looking up at his dripping wet face. He looked as confused as she, herself, was as he ran his hand over his frowning forehead.

_Screw it, _she thought as she pulled his neck so that his lips met hers again.

A moment later, she felt one of his hands slide up her back pulling her in closer, and the other gently pushing aside her sopping wet hair. As the kiss intensified, Cutter backed her up against the wall of the side of some building. She felt him unzip her jacket and push it off her shoulder, as she let her hands wander downwards to his belt bucket . . .

Suddenly, a side door to the building opened a few feet from them and light spilled out. They broke apart immediately and turned to see a middle aged woman throwing an armful of cans into a recycling bin. The woman looked around at them and tutted before returning inside, slamming the door behind her.

Cutter and Jenny looked at each other and burst out laughing, Jenny placing her head on his chest and cringing.

"I've just had a high school flash back," she sighed, her voice muffled in his top.

"Come on," he smiled, pulling her away. "Let's go somewhere else."

********

Cutter woke up with the sun shining directly onto his face, making him feel slightly dazed for a second. Sensing his bed empty next to him, he looked across the room and saw Jenny almost fully dressed and buttoning up her blouse; her face furrowed angrily.

"What's the matter?" he asked immediately, sitting up slightly.

She looked up at him for a second, but seemed unable to look him in the eye, so lowered his gaze back to her half-opened blouse.

"It wasn't that bad was it?" he laughed nervously.

"Do you know you talk in your sleep?" she asked cooly, picking up her jacket.

"Why, what did I say?" he asked, panicking slightly.

She bent down to pick up her brief case, and surveyed him coldly before answering.

"You said 'I love you'," she said quietly.

"And since when is that a bad thing to say?" Cutter asked, rather bemused. He had never known a woman to react like this after a man confesses his love for her, despite him being asleep at the time.

She gave him a look of disgust before moving towards the door, turning back only to say:

"You said 'I love you Claudia'."

********

**It's a long chapter just incase I can't update for a while :) x**


	3. The explanation

Chapter 3

_Oh shit,_ Cutter thought to himself as he scrambled out of his bed sheets with difficulty.

"Wait a minute!" he shouted, catching up with her in his hall way. "I've explained about Claudia Brown to you before; it's your fault whether you chose to believe it or not!"

She spun round, her face contorted in fury.

"If by that you're referring to when we first met and you babbled something insane about me being some one else, then that hardly counts!"

"How on earth can you be jealous when you're the one who's only just split up from your fiancé?!" Cutter snapped . . . unwisely.

"Oh my God Cutter; don't even go there!" she shrieked, flinging her arms in the air in obvious frustration. "It's not like I was the one screaming my ex's name in bed was it?"

"I was asleep! It's not like I could help it!"

"That's even worse!" she gapped, before turning back around and making to open his front door. However, in a split second he had crossed the hall and caught her wrist before she did.

"Let go," she ordered; if looks could kill, Cutter knew he would motionless on the floor at that particular moment.

"Not until you listen to me for once," he retorted, pulling her hand away from the latch.

She scowled, and avoided his gaze for a second, before throwing her briefcase on the floor and leaning back against the wall.

"Five minutes," she stated, surveying him with the same cold look.

Under her glare, it suddenly dawned on Cutter that he was naked, except for his boxer shorts, and felt extremely exposed; both physically and emotionally. All of a sudden, Cutter's mind went as blank as a canvas . . . how on earth could he explain this when he didn't even understand his feelings himself?

"I . . . er . . ." he stammered, running his hand through his hair.

Jenny raised an eyebrow ruefully at him, and crossed her arms, obviously waiting for him to pull a spectacular excuse out of the bag.

"Look," he began, deciding in a split second that he was going to be completely honest with her. "Whatever you think, Claudia Brown existed. She was _you_, but just a different you. She looked identical to you, sounded identical to you and she acted . . . well . . . not identical to you, but there are mannerisms . . ."

"And you expect me to believe this?" she asked in disbelief.

"Well if you think I'm a liar, why are you even here?" he snapped again, his temper flaring up slightly in his nerves.

"I don't think you're a liar," she replied, her arms still folded so tight that it looked like she would never uncross them. "I think you're . . . confused."

"I'm not confused," Cutter sighed loudly, smacking himself in the head with his hands in aspiration. "And I'm not mad either!"

"Nick - "

"Helen!" he said wildly, as a thought popped into his head.

"What?" Jenny gasped, looking scandalized. "Have you completely lost your mind? I'm _Jenny_."

"No - Helen!" he continued, determined she understood. "She knew about you and Claudia as well remember? At Leeks warehouse?"

"Of course I remember! But you don't expect me to take the word of a borderline-psychopath that has spent the last nine years hopping between time zones do you?!"

"No," Cutter agreed, seeing her point. "But surely the fact that we both know about it means something?"

They both fell silent for a moment, looking at each other.

"Okay," Jenny said slowly, finally breaking the tension. "Hypothetically speaking; say I believe you. Say I did used to be this other woman that you loved, and who disappeared to be replaced by me?"

"Yeah?" Cutter prompted.

"Well . . . how would I know if you like her or me? Or the version of her in me? Or whether, in fact, it's just the same thing?"

"Well how do I know you're just not interested in me because Claudia was?" Cutter pointed out. "Maybe your only drawn to me because of some echo across time?"

"Is that possible?"

Cutter shrugged.

"Maybe. I don't know, I haven't had that much experience in these matters . . ." he trailed off.

He watched as Jenny sighed, and lent more heavily against the wall. Another silence ensued; both apparently unable to think of anything else to say.

"Look," Cutter began, trying again to explain his feelings, not only to Jenny, but to himself. "I'm just going to say the thing I'm probably not meant to say. So what?"

"So what?" she repeated, sounding bemused.

"Why should it matter if I've fallen for you because I was interested in Claudia? I don't doubt that if I would have met you first, you would have worked your womanly wiles on me and we'd be in this exact position any way."

At this, he saw the corners of Jenny's lips twitch upwards slightly in a suppressed smile.

"What matters is that I am in love with _you_. You as you are now and as you were then. I'm in love with your existence as a whole. And I've tried to suppress it; I've tried to not think of you that way . . . but I can't."

He made eye contact with her, and observed that her forehead was creased in a look of confusion.

"Jenny?" he prompted.

"I'm still trying to work out if what you said was incredibly sweet or incredibly insulting," she said in a half-laughing voice.

"Ah," Cutter nodded in an understanding manner, a slight smile on his face - her persona seemed to be softening slightly. "I would lean more to 'sweet', but that's just me . . ."

"It's just . . ." she began slowly, running her fingers through her hair. "It's just that . . . well, it's a lot to take in - "

"I know."

"I want to believe you," she whispered to him, her eyes pricking with tears for the first time; that was one thing he admired about this woman - she very rarely cried, which was a good thing, as crying women made him uncomfortable; he never quite knew what to say.

"Then believe me," he sighed, feeling safe enough to approach her slightly.

"It's just hard," she continued, as she allowed him to rest his hands on her arms. "I'm not interested in being second best."

"You're not," he assured her, pulling her into his chest.

For a while she was stiff, but he continued to hold her, and after a moment she relaxed into the embrace and clutched him back.

********

**A lot of fluff, I know! But one thing that bothered me in the show was that if Nick and Jenny had got together, how would the whole 'I'm in love with Claudia not you' thing would be handled? So I needed to write this for my own piece of mind lol. **

**Let me know what you think :D**


	4. A very confused Conner

**I thought in this chapter, I'd try and do it from Conner's point-of-view ,as I've never wrote from this angle before. For me, he's quite a hard character to inhabit, but I shall give it a go nonetheless. Hope you like . . .**

Chapter 4

Conner sat at his preferred station at the Anomaly Detector, swivelling casually in the chair as he allowed his gaze wonder around the room. As usual, his eyes were steered automatically towards Abby. She was over by the animal containment facility, feeding bits of vegetation to the Columbian Mammoth that they had still not been able to return home. He sighed quietly to himself as he watched her stand on her tiptoes to reach the Mammoths trunk. He had never looked up the term 'hot' in the dictionary, but he was almost certain that if he did, he would find a picture of Abby next to it. He shook his head slightly and forced his gaze elsewhere; he was sure he was starting to drool, and had no intention of bathing in his own saliva. Again.

As he glanced over towards the laboratory, he spotted the Professor and Jenny through the gigantic window. The former was sitting down at a desk with his back to him, and the latter was leaning on the desk facing him, seemingly chatting away to Cutter happily.

_That's odd,_ Conner thought to himself. They seemed to be in unusually close proximity to each other.

Conner watched them, rather intrigued. He had always sensed that there was a spark between them two; and if he (as dense as he was) could see it, it must have been obvious to everyone. However, every time he had been with Jenny and Cutter together, they were usually bickering about something or another; both possessing the uncanny ability to be able to wind each other up. But now as he looked at them, something seemed different; it was almost as if they were dating. He watched as Cutter reached for Jenny's hand and held it. This took Conner aback; it seemed as an unlikely occurrence as Lester inviting them all on holiday. Cutter then stood up and rested his hands on Jenny's hips, and she leaned over and whispered something in his ear, a smile on her face that he had never seen her use before. Conner looked away quickly, feeling a tingle of embarrassment creep up his neck; he was sure he wasn't meant to have seen that - he felt like he had just intruded on a privet moment. But in spite of himself, he looked back at them; it was the equivalent to watching a shark attack - he didn't want to watch it, but he seemed unable to look away. Then he gapped in disbelief as the two exchanged a slow, intimate kiss before breaking apart and looking around slightly to see if anyone had seen them.

_Go Professor!_ Conner thought to himself in amusement, feeling a rush of pride towards his mentor. _It's about time he got some -_

"What are you gawping at?" Abby's voice said suddenly from his left, making him jump violently.

"Nothing - I'm not doing anything," he stammered, turning back to the silent Anomaly Detector.

"Okay," said Abby slowly, smiling at the apparently stupid look on his face. "I swear you've started getting weirder by the hour."

"Abby?" Conner asked, unsure as to whether he was ratting the Professor out or not.

"Hmm?"

"Have you noticed anything . . . strange . . about Jenny and Cutter recently?"

Abby looked over at them. Conner followed her gaze, and was disappointed to see that the 'lovebirds' had moved away from each other, and were now engaged in separate activities as though they had not just shared an intimate moment.

"What do you mean?" Abby asked suspiciously.

"Well," Conner continued, rubbing his head in confusion. "I think . . . no, I'm sure . . ."

"Conner, what on earth are you babbling about?" she asked in obvious amusement.

He took a deep breath, preparing himself for his big announcement.

"I think Jenny is getting it on with the Professor," he burst out, unable to put it in a less crude manner.

After a slight pause, Abby laughed and looked over at them again.

"You think those two are sleeping together?"

"Yeah."

"_Those_ two?" she repeated, pointing over at them, obviously indicating the false cold postures they had adopted. "They can't stand each other half the time!"

"I know what I saw!" Conner insisted. "They were just in there feeling each other up - "

Abby slapped him across the back of the head, her expression a mixture of shock and disbelief.

"Owch!"

"You are so perverted!" she gasped, before stalking away back across to the Mammoth.

"I didn't imagine it!" he shouted after her, feeling a twang of injustice. "Unless . . . _did I?"_ he added to himself under his breath, feeling confused.

He continued to observe Jenny and Cutter from a distance, slightly obsessed with gathering any evidence to their secret rendevous to prove to Abby that he was not depraved enough to conjure up a fantasy about them in his mind.

Finally, after stalking them with his eyes for a long while, he decided that he should simply go and ask them both if they were going out. They were all adults after all . . . and if he was honest with himself, he was starting to worry that he _had_ in fact imagined it. He needed to be sure. So he slouched over to the room and entered, trying to act as nonchalant as possible. They both looked up from the separate files they were skimming through. Cutter grunted a greeting and returned to his work.

"Hello," Jenny said warmly as she too focused her attention back on her files.

Conner hovered by the door, having second thoughts about his great plan now he was in front of them. He respected these two people more than anyone else he'd ever met; they were both brilliant. Cutter was like a surrogate father figure to him, and Jenny had became a sort-of sister substitute - a very bossy sister, but a sister none-the-less. Did he really want to embarrass them both by outing a romance that they had obviously chosen to keep private? But he was so _so _curious!

As he steam-rolled through these thoughts, he saw Jenny turn to look at him again with a quizzical look.

"Something on your mind Conner?" she asked, her eyebrow raised.

"I . . .er . . ." Conner stuttered, shuffling his feet. "Well . . ."

Jenny and Cutter were both staring at him in a kindly questioning manner.

"I wanted to know - " he began nervously, but stopped short as something very odd happened.

The ground beneath their feet began to shake violently.

********


	5. The invasion of the ARC

Chapter 5

"Nick?" Jenny said uncertainly, feeling panic pulsating through her as the room started to sway violently.

"It's okay," he said immediately as he stood up, in what he must have thought was a calming tone.

Jenny got to her feet also, stumbling slightly, and looking around in disbelief. Every object in view was swaying alarmingly - what the hell was going on?! Jenny sensed something above them move, and both herself and Cutter looked up in the exact same moment to see the gigantic glass casing of the light detach. In what seemed like slow motion, Cutter dived on top of her and pushed her out of harms way just in time; there was a deafening crashing sound as the casing hit the ground and smashed to smithereens. Jenny was on the ground on her side with Cutter next to her; one of his arms around her head to shield her from the glass.

"Abby!" she heard Conner yelling over the noise.

"Conner, GET DOWN!" Cutter barked, holding Jenny tighter.

Everything was happening so fast it felt like a blur. All of a sudden, pain erupted from Jenny's cheek bone as a small object fell on her from above. Both her and Cutter looked up in time to see the shelf case containing various artefacts leaning over - it was going to fall on them! Jenny heard herself screaming and felt Cutter pulling her into himself more, so that he was practically on top of her. Then she felt a massive pressure hit them as the shelf landed hard on Cutter's back, causing him to yelp loudly in pain. As quickly as it started, the shaking stopped and the room became still.

"Oh my God, Nick! Oh my God!" Jenny found herself shrieking before she could stop herself; her voice muffled in his top.

"It's alright," he replied through gritted teeth, as she felt his body tremble on top of hers with the weight of the shelves. "We're okay."

Jenny could hear Conner skidding to a halt next to them.

"Okay," he shouted in a high pitched panicked voice. "Just stay still, I'll get it off you!"

Jenny felt the pressure on top of them lessen slightly, only to redouble a split second later as Conner had evidently dropped the it back down, causing Cutter to groan in pain again.

"I can't lift it!" Conner cried. "It's too heavy!"

"Go and get help!" Jenny shouted back, and she heard him immediately run out the room. "Nick, are you okay?" she added.

"I'm fine," he breathed, completely unconvincingly. "Just stay still; we'll be out in a moment."

Hurried footsteps signaled the return of Conner who, judging by the voices, had brought Becker and Abby to their aid. Together, they managed to heave the heavy piece of furniture off and roll it over onto the floor. Cutter got off Jenny slowly, shaking from head to toe, and Abby grabbed her under the arms and pulled her to her unsteady feet with surprising strength for someone so small.

"Is everyone okay?" Becker asked, sounding out of breath.

They all nodded dumbly.

"What the hell was that, an earthquake?" Abby asked in disbelief.

"In Britain?" Conner gasped, clutching his side.

"It's not unheard of," Abby pointed out, her voice still shaky.

"Yeah, but not of that magnitude! That's not normal!"

Jenny heard their discussion as though it was from a great distance away as her full concentration was on Cutter. He was bent over the desk slightly, clutching his ribs.

"Nick," she said quietly, as she was sure he wouldn't want anyone else to know he was hurt. "Are they broken?" she added, indicating her ribs.

"No," he replied in a low voice, offering her a weak smile. "I think they're just bruised,"

"CONNER!" Lester's voice issued into the room.

Everyone looked out of the glass pane and saw him standing with a group of soldiers gesturing wildly at the Anomaly Detector which screens were jumping erratically.

"Sugar!" Conner exclaimed, hurrying out of the room to fix the Detector.

He was followed by Abby and Becker, leaving Cutter and Jenny alone. She looked at Cutter again, and for the first time noticed how scratched his face was from the broken glass. She felt a slight pang of guilt; he had been too busy concentrating on keeping her safe rather than protecting himself. She reached out and stroked his hair back.

"Your face looks awful," she whispered.

"I thought you thought I was pretty?" he smirked with a slight wince as he straightened up.

"I do," she laughed slightly, "But you're covered in cuts."

"You're not looking so glowing yourself," he cringed as he ran his fingers gently over her painful cheekbone. "You're going to have a fantastic black eye tomorrow."

"Here's hoping - "

But she stopped speaking as the sound of the Anomaly Detector alarm filled the building, as usual making them all jump violently. They hurried over to join the rest of the team at the Detector as Conner was getting the location.

"It appeared while the Detector was offline!" Conner informed them, his face paler than usual. "It's been open for a while."

"Where is it?" demanded Lester.

Conner was silent for a moment, still typing wildly. He looked confused for a few seconds; his brow furrowed and his lips thin.

"It can't be," he muttered, more to himself than the rest of them.

"What?" Abby asked urgently, putting her hands on his shoulders.

"It's outside," he replied, looking up at Cutter in bemusement.

"So? Most of them are outdoor ones," Abby said impatiently. "Where about's is it?"

"No, it's _actually_ outside of here!" Conner corrected her.

Jenny and Cutter exchanged a confused glance. Surely that was way too much of a coincidence? They sprinted to the ARC entrance, closely followed by Abby, Conner and Becker. Lester remained behind with some of the soldiers. As they approached the outer gate, Jenny gasped as her eyes found one of the strangest sights she had ever seen (and she had seen a _lot_ of strange things). In the road outside of the ARC grounds was a gigantic hole; it looked like a massive split in the concrete that had formed into a crater. In the middle of it, one of the biggest anomalies they had ever seen was glimmering in the sunshine.

"What on earth . . .?" Cutter muttered beside her in disbelief.

"Is that what caused the earthquake?" Conner asked, his mouth hanging slightly open in shock.

"I'd say it was definitely in the frame - "

Jenny squinted past the anomaly, and her stomach tightened uncomfortably; a crowd of passing civilians had gathered on the other side of the road, all gapping at the flickering light in front of them.

"Oh shit," she sighed, closing her eyes for a second.

_Think . . . think . . . how can I explain this? _she thought in a panic, her brain working furiously.

"Open the gate," she ordered to Becker's security soldiers.

"No, hold on!" Cutter said quickly, not taking his eyes off the anomaly.

Jenny looked back at it, and saw what he was talking about; the light was swelling as though something was about to come through.

"RUN!" Conner gestured wildly to the ever-growing crowd. "Get out of here - !"

As if it was something out of a horror film, countless Future Predators began to pour out of the bulging anomaly; some of them lunging towards the crowd, and some making straight for them at lightening speed.

For a second, the team remained paralysed on the spot in shock.

Then chaos ensued.

"GO!" Cutter bellowed, his eyes wide with fear. He shoved Jenny in front of him as they all turned to sprint back into the ARC.

"But what about them?" she hear Abby cry from beside her, obviously talking about the public.

"There's nothing we can do about them now!" Cutter shouted.

The soldiers at the entrance had lines up in formation and were firing manically at the rapidly approaching beasts; the sounds of bloodcurdling screams and shouts could still be heard as they flew down the ARC corridor back to the main room.

Lester looked up from the Anomaly Detector as they all piled in, looking mildly interested.

"What is it?" he asked casually.

They were spared answering by Becker, who turned around and began shooting at the circular wall.

The Predators had followed them inside.

They poured in, scampering across the walls like gigantic spiders.

"What the - !" Lester began, jumping to his feet.

"You lot run down to the safe house!" Becker barked as he continued to fire his gun. "GO!"

"JENNY LOOK OUT!" Abby screeched, indicating the ceiling.

Jenny looked upwards and felt terror bolt through her . . . rubble was falling at her from the ceiling. Instinctively, she flung her arms over her head . . . she felt something hit her heavily . . . and then nothingness.

********

Cutter looked over at Jenny, and his heart nearly jumped out of his chest - there was a Predator dangling on the ceiling above her, and around it, part of the ceiling was collapsing in with it's weight. As if in slow motion, the Creature scampered out of the way, only to be brought down by one of Becker's well-aimed bullets; however the ceiling caved in - the heavy debris crashing down on Jenny. She threw her arms around her head, but in a split second, she was no longer visible; hidden under a pile of rubble.

"NO!" Cutter cried, sprinting haphazardly over; ignoring the pandemonium around him.

He and Abby shifted manically through the debris, the deafening sounds of bullets pounding in his ear. _Where was she?!_

"Cutter, here!" Abby shouted over the noise, as she scraped away some pieces of plastic to reveal Jenny's battered and scraped face.

She was unconscious . . . _she had to be _. . . either that or . . .

"Help me get her up!" Cutter ordered as he quickly pulled Jenny free.

Both he and Abby supported her weight, each taking up one of her arms over their shoulders. Her head lolled alarmingly and she remained out for the count.

"GO!" Becker repeated_, _taking aim at another creature. "NOW!"

********


	6. We're trapped

**A bit of a run through of chapter 1 from Abby's point of view . . .**

Chapter 6

As luck would have it, Lester in his paranoia had commissioned a safe room to be built quickly after his encounter with one of Leek's future predators, least he be caught unawares by a sudden attack again. They all flew down several flights of stairs, lead by Conner, who was followed closely by Cutter and Abby, carrying Jenny, both sharing her weight. It was not like Jenny was particularly heavy, but Abby found it extremely difficult to coordinate her movements with Cutter's as they sprinted forward. Jenny was badly hurt; most of her face was covered in cuts and scraps, and there was a gapping wound on her forehead that was bleeding copiously. However, they could do nothing but get her to safety. Abby had never felt such a rush of panic in her life; all these creatures! If they were not rounded up and killed . . .

The door to the safe house come into view, and Conner pushed it open and he flung himself inside. Abby and Cutter followed.

"Hurry, it's coming!" Conner shouted in a strained voice, seemingly hearing something that Abby herself had not picked up on.

Abby dropped to the floor and Cutter lent a motionless Jenny against her before scampering up to join Conner at the huge metallic door.

"Jenny!" Abby said loudly, shaking Jenny's shoulders. Her head lolled onto Abby's arm, but she did not wake up. "Jenny! Can you wake up?" she added, holding Jenny's head up.

Jenny groaned slightly, obviously struggling to regain consciousness.

"Come on!" Abby whispered, slapping Jenny's heavily scratched cheek slightly to try and rouse her.

Lester sprinted in after them, his face flushed and his hair wind-swept.

"Close it!" he barked, clutching his chest and gasping for breath.

"What about Becker!" Conner asked in an accusatory tone. "We can't just leave him up there!"

"He'd want us to!" Lester argued, straightening up. "It's his job!"

"Just give him a minute!" Cutter interjected, scanning the corridor wildly.

"If one of those things get in here, were all dead!" Lester bellowed, his face red with fury.

Everyone ignored him, and stared at the door intently, holding their breath in anticipation. Becker should have been down here by now . . . something must have happened . . .

Abby hoisted Jenny up more so that her head rested on her chest; the cut on her forehead bleeding onto Abby's top which was saturated deep red in seconds.

Then suddenly, out of the darkness of the corridor came the sound that chilled everyone to the bone . . . the ear-splitting clicking sound that Abby come to know and dread.

"Lock it!" Lester ordered, his face contorted in fear.

They had to do it . . . they had no choice.

Conner and Cutter scampered behind the door and began to push it closed, but it was too heavy for them. Lester hurried over to help them, and slowly, it started to move. It was almost closed . . .

Suddenly, the Predators head appeared in the gap, causing the three men to jump back in fright. Then, they pushed harder, trying to force it backwards. However, with one thrashing movement of it's gigantic head, they were all thrown back, and flew across into the corner in a heap. The creature entered the room, still clicking wildly as it approached the girls.

Abby heart was beating so fast she was sure it would burst out of her chest.

"Jenny," Abby said numbly, clutching her unconscious friend tighter.

There was nothing she could do; she had no weapons! But she had to try . . .

The Predator approached them slowly, as though savoring every moment as it surveyed it's helpless prey.

Abby lay Jenny down on the ground and stepped over her towards the creature. The Predator paused, apparently taken aback by Abby's sudden advancement. It clicked it's tongue again, surveying her through sonar.

"ABBY GET DOWN!" Cutter's voice barked from the corner as he struggled to get up.

Before it could regain it's wits, Abby lunged at the Predator with a kick to it's jaw. It staggered backwards, shaking it's head as though in pain. Abby backed up slightly ready to strike again, adrenaline pumping through her veins.

Gunshots echoed through the room.

The creature turned around and focused his attention on Becker, who was firing at it from the outside corridor. It jolted as the bullets penetrated it's tough grey hide, and it ran towards Becker, who backed up slightly, but kept shooting. Just before the creature reached him, it gave a massive shriek and collapsed in front of him, clearly dead. Abby suddenly realised that she was shaking as the adrenaline rush left her, to be replaced by numbing shock. She felt Conner beside her, pulling her into a hug that she couldn't bring herself to reciprocate. Becker entered the room and helped Cutter and Lester close the door, that sealed itself with a rumbling snap.

As soon as it was closed, Cutter strode over to Jenny. He pulled her arm over his shoulder, hooked his arm around her legs, and picked her up; her head falling against his chest.

"Bedroom?" he asked Lester shortly, who pointed numbly in a certain direction.

Without another word Cutter left the room, obviously with the intent of putting Jenny on a bed until she regained consciousness.

********

The bedroom was in a small room adjacent to the main living quarters. It was as dull as the previous room, with only one light that flickered on automatically as Cutter entered. There were only four small beds, each one with slightly dusty generic bedcovers. Cutter put Jenny down gently on the bed nearest the end; her body still extremely limp.

"Jenny?" he said clearly and loudly as he kneeled next to her bed. "Can you hear me?"

She didn't respond, which made Cutter's stomach tighten uncomfortably - what if the head injury had caused some long-term damage?

"You'll be needing this," Abby's voice said gently, although she still sounded shaken up. Cutter turned around and saw that she was holding up a first aid kit.

"Yeah thanks," Cutter replied, as he turned back to Jenny.

Abby approached and kneeled down on the other side of the bed. She opened the kit and pulled out the anti-septic spray and some plasters. They both worked in silence as they fixed her up.

"What the hell happened out there?" Abby asked eventually in a quiet voice.

"I have no idea," Cutter answered honestly.

"Do you think the soldiers will manage to get them all before they kill people?" she enquired.

Cutter looked up at her, and saw her face furrowed into a worried expression.

"Of course they will," he lied, deciding that his true opinion would be of little comfort to her at this time. "They're the best soldiers in the country."

Abby nodded, looking slightly less panicked.

"She needs stitches," Cutter breathed, his fingers fumbling as he placed a large plaster over her now clean wound.

"I think this is the best she going to get," Abby sighed, as she cleaned the rest of Jenny's more minor injuries. "Is she hurt anywhere else?"

"We won't know that until she wakes up and tells us," Cutter answered, staring at Jenny.

When he looked back up at Abby, he saw she was giving him a look of confusion, and realised that he must have been looking at Jenny a little to tenderly.

"Come on," he sighed as he got to his feet, in an attempt to cover up his blunder; he and Jenny had both agreed to keep their relationship under raps for the time being - they didn't need any more pressure on them than there already was. "We need to go and figure out what we're going to do," he added.

When they returned to the main room, it seemed that a heated argument had broken out between Becker and Lester.

"I should be up there with the men!" Becker shouted, pointing upwards.

"Your job is to protect us," Lester pointed out, his arms folded tightly.

"That's exactly what I was trying to do sir!" Becker burst out, pacing slightly in his eagerness to be up there on the front line.

"You know what Lester, we should just let him - " Conner began, trying to disperse the tension.

"You stay out of this," Lester snapped.

"I do not wish to break a direct order sir," Becker said in a forced calm voice. "But my men need me up there!"

He crossed the room, and made to open the door; only to find it immovable. He looked around in confusion.

"It won't open," he said as he tried again unsuccessfully.

Cutter joined him at the door, and tried to help him, but he too failed to make the door move so much as an inch. He stepped back slightly, surveying it. Then he spotted a pad of numbers next to the steel door.

"We need a code to unlock it," he informed them, turning around to the room.

Everyone exchanged bemused glances.

"I take it no one knows that code," Cutter sighed, running his fingers through his hair.

Everyone shook their heads in unison.

_Great,_ Cutter thought to himself as he lent back on the door._ Just great._

It was one thing not being able to get out for a few hours as they came up with a plan; but to be stuck in here indefinitely? They had a job to do up there! They needed to figure out why this had happened; they couldn't do that down here in an underground bunker!

"What are we gona do?" Abby said uncertainly, breaking the silence.

********


	7. An inappropriate relief

Chapter 7

Jenny could feel pain shooting through her leg as she began to become aware of her surroundings. Her head was pounding also; a dull repetitive pain that made her eyes water slightly. She suddenly realised that her eyes were actually closed, and she tried to open them. It took all of her strength to part her eyelids a crack, and she found herself having to close them again. The pain in her leg had become more pronounced and attuned; she was certain that it was her ankle that it was coming from. Her thoughts were slow and sluggish; unable to come to her in any logical order as she tried with all her might to remember what had happened. All of a sudden, the image of a Future Predator took over her brain, making her yelp in fright and sit up slightly. Her eyes flew open, and she looked around the room quickly in a blind panic.

"You're alright," Cutter's voice said suddenly from her side. She felt his hands on her chest trying to push her back down gently, but she resisted them with difficulty.

"What happened?" she breathed, unable to adjust her eyes.

Cutter didn't answer her, but put his hand on the side of her face and pulled her gaze towards himself. Her eyes focused on him, and saw that his expression was a mingle of relief and worry.

"Can you see anything?" he asked, stroking her hair back from her face.

"Of course I can," she answered, feeling slightly confused. Why wouldn't she be able to see anything?

"Does anywhere hurt?"

Jenny thought for a moment, still trying to organise her thoughts. Her ankle gave a particularly nasty twinge as if to remind her of her ailment.

"My left ankle," she said quietly. "And my head. What happened?" she asked again, more urgently.

Again, Cutter didn't answer her; instead taking off her boot on her left leg. At this, her ankle throbbed again as though in protest, but Jenny gritted her teeth and didn't complain. She watched him as he pulled up the leg of her pants - her ankle was extremely puffy and swollen.

"Can you flex it?" he asked gently.

She tried to move her foot, but stopped immediately as a bout of nausea washed over her - it just hurt too much.

"No," she answered, fighting the overwhelming desire she had to lean over the other side of the bed and vomit. "Not really."

Without another word, Cutter pulled out some bandages and began to wrap them around her ankle tightly, making her squirm slightly.

"Sorry," he said sheepishly. "I don't think it's broken - it's probably a fracture."

"Will you just forget about my ankle for one second Nick," she snapped, knowing that he was avoiding her question. _"What happened?"_

He sighed and got off the floor slowly, and perched on the bed that she was sitting on.

"You don't remember?" he asked.

"I remember the creature's coming through the anomaly," she said, straining her memory. "But after that . . . nothing . . ."

"Well, they got into the ARC," he informed her, seemingly unable to meet her eye. "We're in the safe house. You were knocked out."

"How long have I been unconscious for?" she demanded, unable to believe that she hadn't been awake to help them - or worse, that she had been a burden on them and prevented them fighting back efficiently.

"Just a few hours."

"And everyone else?" she asked in trepidation, unable to fathom losing any more of the team.

"They're in the other room," Cutter answered.

"Then what are we waiting for?" she said shortly, swinging her legs off the bed.

"You're not going anywhere," Cutter laughed in disbelief. "You need to rest!"

"Nick, this whole overprotective thing is very sweet and all, but in's not necessary," she smiled, rolling her eyes slightly. "I'm a big girl."

He smiled weakly.

"Okay," he said finally. "But I'm helping you walk."

"I don't need help," Jenny insisted, determined not to play the damsel in distress roll any more than she already had - the thought of it made her cringe inwardly.

She made to stand up, but as soon as she put weight on her left ankle, she sat back down, whimpering involuntarily.

"Are you sure you don't need any help?" Cutter asked, sounding a tad amused at her determination.

She paused for a second, weighing up her desire to be with the team over her desire to be independent.

"Yes please," she eventually said quietly.

"What was that?" Cutter asked, feigning deafness.

Jenny sighed and glared up at him. How could she be this attracted to someone this infuriating?!

"Nick Cutter, would you please assist me in walking since I seem incapable of doing it alone," she said in a monotone voice.

"Well since you asked me so nicely Jenny Lewis, I would be happy too," he teased, as he took her left arm around his shoulders.

She staggered against him, trying to not put her foot down, and he grabbed her around the waist to stop her from falling.

"You're enjoying this, aren't you?" she asked him in disbelief as she spotted him smiling.

"Maybe a little."

They made slow progress, but finally made it to the other room. Jenny looked around as they entered; it was rather large and incredibly dull. It had in it a little kitchenette in the far corner, and a big round table next to it. There were many cupboards, and shelves with generic food packages on them. On the other side of the room, there was a small sofa, with many tiny chairs and squashy bean-bags around it. There were no windows, but a few minuscule vents dotted around the walls. Abby, Conner, Lester and Becker were all gathered around the table with mugs in their hands, talking quietly. As Jenny and Cutter approached, they all looked around, and appeared happy to see them.

"You're awake!" Abby sighed in obvious relief, getting up and pulling out a chair for her to sit down on.

Cutter dropped her in the chair and took a seat next to her.

"We though you were a goner then," Conner said cheerfully, as usual displaying his knack for saying things that were uncomfortably true. "Coffee?" he added, looking from Jenny to Cutter.

Jenny, however, was confused. Why were they all sitting round drinking coffee when the ARC was being ransacked by Predators? This certainly wasn't what they were paid for. She looked over at Lester, who was draining the last of his drink; he looked as if he hid out in secret safe houses everyday for the concern he was showing. Becker was the only one who looked tense, his tanned face contorted in worry.

"One sugar or two Jenny?" Conner asked her from the kitchenette. "The milk's powdered I'm afraid, but it tastes alright - "

"I'm sorry," Jenny snapped, unable to stop herself from voicing her mind. "But have I entered into a twilight zone?"

"What do you mean?" asked Abby uncertainly.

"Why on earth are we sitting around here playing house when we've got an army of Predators that need killing?!"

She looked around at them, and saw them exchange cynical glances.

"We're locked in Jenny," Cutter spoke up. "We need a code to get out of here. I don't suppose you know it?"

She shook her head slowly, realisation dawning upon her - they were stuck in here?

"So what now?" she asked quietly, looking at Cutter.

"Well, we need to wait and see if some one comes and lets us out," he answered, not looking incredibly hopeful.

"And the Predators?" Jenny asked in disbelief. "We've just got to accept the fact that they might be up there right now killing innocent bystanders?"

"The soldiers have probably got them all," Cutter answered quietly. "Their probably looking for us - "

"And if they didn't?"

No one answered, but looked down at the table. They had obviously discussed this at length whilst she had been unconscious, but had not come up with a solution, except optimism.

"Well at least we're safe in here," Lester chimed in, his tone rather cheerful.

Jenny usually found his selfish remarks rather amusing, but now the situation was a little too serious. She rolled her eyes at him, but before she could retaliate:

"Look," Cutter began, talking not just her, but to everyone. "There is absolutely nothing we can do. There's no reason to think that the worst has happened - the only thing it'll do is drive us all insane. Lets just . . . try and think positively okay?"

********

There were only four beds in the bedroom, and seeing as there were six of them in there, the sleeping arrangements were rather hard to establish. Eventually, it was decided that Lester, Abby and a reluctant Conner (who voiced his opinion of "but you're _a lot _older than me Professor", much to Cutter's annoyance) slept in the beds, as well as Jenny, who Cutter insisted upon being in one. Becker slept on the sofa, mumbling something about preferring to be alone anyway. Cutter had dug out a sleeping bag from one of the many storage units, and had made a bed for himself on the floor next to Jenny. She wished that they could share the same bed (despite the size of them) as they were, after all, a couple. A secret couple, but a couple none-the-less. But she supposed that it would set tongues wagging if they did. So she had to settle for knowing he was right next to her.

"If I hear anyone so much as grunt in their sleep, they're fired," Lester told them in his most condescending voice as they climbed into their beds.

"I laugh in my sleep," Conner informed them, as he pulled back the covers to slip inside his own bed.

"Oh wonderful," Lester said, his voice sagging with sarcasm as he slammed his head into his pillow. "Some one get the lights."

Cutter helped Jenny into her bed, before crossing the room and flicking the light switch. Jenny heard him stumbling back with difficulty in the dark, and resisted the urge to laugh . . . what was wrong with her? Something terrible was possibly happening above them that they could do nothing about, and she was fighting back a fit of giggles. Next to her, she heard Cutter attempt to get into his sleeping bag. He seemed to be struggling to coordinate himself in the blackness, and a second later, a crashing sound told her that he fallen against the wall and slid down it, landing on the floor.

She couldn't help herself - she burst into a fit of laughter with her hand over her mouth to try and stifle it. She could hear Conner and Abby joining her, all of them giggling like school children.

"Very funny," Cutter mumbled, fidgeting about of the floor; he'd obviously decided that wriggling into his sleeping bag was safer.

"Will you lot be quiet!" Lester shouted at them.

"Sorry," Jenny said, still trying hard to fight back the unusual giddiness that had enveloped her.

"Yeah sorry," Abby added, her voice shaking with the effort of not laughing.

Jenny turned and shoved her face in the musty smelling pillow to try and suppress the inappropriate desire to laugh again. From beside her, she heard Cutter lie down on the floor. Then suddenly - unexpectedly - he started laughing.

That was it - Jenny started cackling unstoppably. She had no idea what was so funny, but she couldn't stop. She heard Abby and Conner wheezing beside her as they drew breath from their own laughs. Then something very unlikely happened - from the far corner, she heard Lester actually chuckle slightly, before clearing his throat loudly.

"For goodness sake it's like rooming with a bunch of kids!" he scolded them. "For the last time - GO TO SLEEP!"

They all obeyed reluctantly, despite the odd titter that came from Conner's direction. Jenny's mood has soared; it was a release that they had all needed, especially herself. And since sex didn't seem to be on the menu at all, it was the only release she was likely to get down here.

About an hour later, the room was filled with the intermingled sound of heavy and soft breathing (the latter presumably coming from Abby). Jenny tossed and turned, unable to get to sleep. Now that the unexpected fit of laughter had abated, her ankle was throbbing badly, and they had found no pain relief in the place. This was rather annoying, as the safe house seemed to be stocked with everything else. For some reason, she put her arm over the edge of the bed to the side that Cutter was on. She thought he had been asleep, but a few seconds later, she felt him take her hand and hold it gently. She closed her eyes and sighed to herself - she felt comforted.

********


	8. Conner's plan

Chapter 8

"Come on Abby, look at them!" Conner whispered urgently, nodding over to Jenny and Cutter.

Jenny was sitting casually on the pale green sofa, her injured foot propped up bean-bag. Cutter was next to her, reclining back so that his head was resting on merely inches from hers. They were both wearing the generic black top and pants that they had found a stash of in one of the supply cupboards, and looked oddly mirrored. They were chatting together happily.

"Conner, I will NOT have this conversation with you again - "

"_How_ can you not see it!" Conner hissed in aspiration. "Their obviously flirting!"

"Like you'd know anything about flirting!" Abby laughed, rather harshly.

"That's . . ." Conner stammered, feeling himself blush. "That's beside the point!"

"Why are you so obsessed with this?" Abby asked quietly.

"Because you think I'm a pervert!"

"Believe me, that wouldn't change even if you were right," she teased.

"Why won't you believe me?" Conner asked, slapping his hands to his forehead.

"Because number one; Jenny would have told me," Abby began, listing her reasons on her fingers as she went. "Number two; I would have noticed something by now. And number three; Cutter was all infatuated with that Claudia Brown person, and I doubt he's the type of bloke to be able to move on that fast! It took him eight years to get over Helen!"

"You know what, I'm gona prove you wrong!" Conner promised, certain that at some point that they're stuck down here, their bound to slip up. They had only been there two days, and they were already starting to lapse.

"Get a life Conner," Abby sighed, before getting up from the table they were sitting at, and stalking off into the bedroom.

Conner's eyes traveled back to Jenny and the Professor, who he observed out of the corner of his eye. He watched as Cutter gently, and as it seemed unconsciously, ran his finger down Jenny's bare arm and stroked it as he talked to her.

"Oh come on," Conner sighed to himself, unable to believe that Abby had missed that display of affection by seconds! He was sure they were doing it on purpose to wind him up!

Suddenly, an idea popped into his head, and he was sure if he was a cartoon character, a light bulb would be hovering above his head right now. He sniggered slightly . . . he was so crafty that he even surprised himself.

********

"I'm not playing a stupid kids drinking game!" Lester scoffed, looking at the cup that Conner had filled with vodka with disgust.

"Oh come on Lester, where's your sense of fun?" Conner asked, pouring some more mugs full of the alcohol that he had discovered yesterday.

"I'm thirty three," Becker stated, his eyebrow raised. "I'm not playing a teenagers game."

"How else are we meant to amuse ourselves?" Conner asked, determined that his plan went ahead unimpeded. "It's not like we have a television or a radio! We have to make our own fun!"

"And you're idea of fun is getting us slobbering drunk?" Cutter asked in amusement, looking into his brimming mug.

"You're just scared you're going to lose," Jenny added from beside Cutter, looking at him with a raised eyebrow. "I'm in Conner."

"Thank you Jenny," Conner smiled, giving her a little bow.

"I don't get the game though?" she added, taking the mug that Conner held up to her. "I've never heard of it before."

"Well," Conner began, taking a seat next to Abby, who was looking at him in disbelief. "It's called 'I never' and basically we go round the table and each person says something like 'I have never . . . took a dog for a walk' or something like that. And if you have done it; you drink."

"You're pathetic," Abby whispered to him so that only he could hear - she had obviously worked out his intentions. But he ignored her.

"And you have to be _absolutely _truthful," he added, looking around meaningfully.

"And if you haven't done it?" Becker asked, in a bored voice.

"Then you don't drink," Conner answered, feeling the excitement bubble up in his stomach - he had them! "So who wants to start?" he added, looking around at the skeptical faces all looking at him with a mixture of amusement and irritability.

"Okay, I'll start," Lester said, surprisingly. "I have never been forced to play a ridiculous children's game by a petulant student."

Everyone around the table smiled and drank except for Conner, each of them shuddering slightly at the taste.

"Oh haha," Conner sighed, rolling his eyes. "Jenny?"

"Erm . . ." she began thoughtfully. "I have never . . . rode a bike before."

Again, everyone drank but Conner, who felt a tinge of redness appear on his cheeks.

"You have_ never_ rode a bike?" Abby asked him in disbelief, coughing slightly due to the taste of the vodka.

"I . . ." he stammered, as everyone around the table started chuckling. "Some people find it harder to learn than others!"

"That is so sweet," Abby mocked.

"Cutter it's your turn!" Conner said quickly, determined to change the subject.

"I have never . . ." Cutter began, looking into his mug. "I have never . . . traveled back in time."

Cutter, Conner and Abby all drank. As the liquid hit the back of Conner's throat, he retched slightly, and put his hand over his mouth to stop himself being sick. Thankfully, no one seemed to notice, and he cleared his throat ready for his turn. He knew what he really wanted to say, but he wanted everyone to be a bit drunk when he asked that particular question.

"I have never been in love," he said, getting a secret thrill out of the fact that when Cutter and Jenny drank, they were possibly talking about each other.

As he suspected, everyone drank to this one, even himself. He had to stop his eyes traveling towards Abby as he did so.

"I have never been in love more than once?" Abby said, following on from his question.

For the third time, everyone but Conner drank, but this time no one teased him about it.

"I have never been married," Becker sighed, as though bored with the proceedings.

Lester and Cutter both drank.

"I find it rather sad that out of six adults, only two have been married," Lester pointed out.

"I was engaged," Jenny interjected.

"Me too," Becker said surprisingly; he was usually such a closed book.

No one pushed him to tell them more, as he looked rather depressed. They swiftly carried on the game.

"I have never . . ." Lester began, obviously thinking hard. " . . . been attacked by a creature."

Of course, every one drank.

"I have never lied to anyone," Jenny added, to which everyone again drank.

"I have never regretted my choice to join the ARC," Cutter said quietly. "Even for a second."

They all drank silently; Conner thinking about his friend Tom who he had lost because of a parasite passed on by an infected dodo. That had certainly made him rethink his life choice. He was so absorbed in his thoughts that Abby had to nudge him to remind him that it was his turn.

********

Jenny was actually enjoying this game; it was quite fun to learn a little more about everyone - especially Nick. Jenny wasn't really used to vodka, and as her mug was half empty, she was starting to feel rather tipsy.

It was Abby's turn next.

"I have never . . . had sex," she said, with a slight smile.

"Trust you to bring the tone down," Jenny rolled her eyes, but she drank, as did every one else - including Conner who had always been somewhat of a question mark in that area.

"Sorry, I think that was the drink talking," Abby grimaced as she set her mug down.

"Well since the tone has already been lowered," Becker said in amusement. "I have never cheated on my partner."

Jenny's stomach clenched into a knot as she drank to this one; she was sure this one wouldn't go down well with Cutter - it was well known that people took it badly when they discover their partners had cheated on previous partners; it was more likely that they would then cheat on them. Sure enough from beside her, she saw Cutter look at her in disbelief. Lester was the only other person who drank.

"What?" Cutter asked in obvious shock. "Why would you ever do that?"

"It was years ago!" Jenny answered defensively, aware that it looked incredibly odd to everyone else that Cutter was so bothered by this revelation.

"Who did you cheat on? Mark?" Cutter asked urgently.

"Yes," Jenny answered quietly, feeling ashamed of herself.

"Was it like a one night stand or was it a full blown affair?" Abby interjected sounding slightly drunk.

"Can we just change the subject please?" Jenny asked coldly; although the fact that Abby had shown curiosity as well made it seem less weird that Cutter was so interested.

"No, go on what was it?" Cutter demanded.

"Okay," Jenny sighed. "If I'm honest, it was the latter."

"You had a lover?" Abby gapped, sounding impressed. "Cool."

"No it wasn't cool," Jenny explained. "After a few months, I realised that what I was doing wasn't right and I broke it off. And I promised myself that I'd never be unfaithful to _anyone_ again," she added, putting particular emphasis on the word 'anyone', and speaking directly to Cutter in her head.

Cutter fell silent at these words and looked in a slightly better mood, much to Jenny's relief. However, she didn't know if she was imagining it or not, but she could have sworn that Conner was looking between the two of them with a rather knowing smile on his face.

It was Lester's turn next; but the drink made him ask something rather unspeakable - so unspeakable that Jenny blushed bright red.

"I'm not answering that!" Abby gasped, before thumping Conner hard in the arm as he rolled about laughing.

"Me neither!" Jenny interjected, not quite over the shock that her boss (who always maintained proper standards in her presence) had actually said that!

"Well what happened to answering honestly?" Cutter pointed out to her, his lips wobbling as he apparently tried not to laugh.

"Why are you causing trouble?" Jenny asked Cutter, making sure she glared at him as she spoke.

"I'm just worried about the integrity of the game," Cutter insisted; a mock-concerned look on his face. "If you start skipping questions, who knows what could happen?"

Jenny glanced over at Abby for a second, and they both shared a look of helplessness. Then, simultaneously, they both picked up their mugs and took a (rather large) gulp each. The men started laughing and heckling - even Becker joined in! Jenny blushed more heavily than she ever had in her life, and put her face in her hands. She wished that the ground would open up and swallow her whole.

"Okay," she said as she finally raised her head; half-laughing, half-cringing. "That's enough!"

The men fell silent, but still all looked like Christmas had come early. Jenny tried to switch the subject quickly.

"I have never cheated on an exam," she said.

Becker and Conner were the only ones who didn't drink, and surveyed the rest of the table with mild disgust. Then it was Cutter's turn; Jenny half expected him to follow Lester's example and say something obscene. And sure enough:

"I have never had a fantasy about someone I work or worked with," he sniggered.

Everyone drank with slight embarrassment; obviously all wondering if they were the person someone was drinking for.

It was Conner's turn, and when he realised this, he sat straight in his chair, and took a deep breath as though he was about to announce something important.

"I have never . . ." he began slowly, as though savoring every word. "Slept with another person in this room."

He was looking directly at Jenny and Cutter in anticipation; the latter had gone slightly paler. Jenny felt herself tingling with embarrassment again - how the hell had he known?! She looked around at Cutter slightly, and saw that his mug was half way to his mouth. So reluctantly, she followed suit, and necked back the last of her drink.

"I told you!" Conner yelled at Abby, standing up in celebration. "I TOLD YOU!"

Abby was to busy gapping at Jenny and Cutter to bother chiding Conner for his gloating.

"WHEN?" she demanded, looking half-thrilled, and half-aspirated.

Jenny was cringing inside, and by the look of Cutter, he was feeling exactly the same.

"Only about four days ago," she answered sheepishly.

"And you didn't tell me?" Abby asked, sounding slightly stung.

"We just thought it'd be easier - " Jenny tried to explain.

"Oh whoopee," Lester sighed, his finger and thumb on the bridge of his nose. "And we have to share a room with them for God-knows how long . . ."

********

The interrogation carried on for some time; only ending when Conner stood up and sprinted to the bathroom; the sounds of vomit hitting the water was audible even through a closed door. Jenny took this as an opportunity to suggest that they all went to bed, using the bossiest tone she possessed. There was a general murmur of agreement, and within the next half and hour, heavy breathing filled the room as usual, broken by the occasional sickly-sounding groan from Conner who had apparently passed out. When she was almost positive that everyone was asleep, Jenny leaned over towards Cutter. He obviously sensed her looking at him, as he opened his eyes, and smiled. Jenny jerked her head to indicate that he should join her in her bed. He got up as quietly as possible, and she moved over to give him room. The bed was rather tiny, but it fitted them both in snugly. They started to kiss quietly; the alcohol perhaps making them slightly more brazen than usual. Just as the kiss was becoming more passionate:

"If you two don't stop whatever it is you're doing I will not be held responsible for me actions!" Lester barked over at them, sounding irritated.

They stopped kissing abruptly and exchanged a half-frustrated, half-amused look. Laughing slightly, Jenny put her head on his chest and snuggled into him more. He put his arms around her and pulled her in tighter, and she fell asleep feeling safer than she had done in a long time.

********

**Hope this chapter didn't bore you, but I had a lot of fun writing it :D let me know your opinions x**


	9. The sauna

Chapter 9

It had now been almost a week since they had been locked in the underground volt, and the strain was beginning to tell on everyone. Whether it was peoples natural distaste of being caged in a confined space or the realisation that it seemed that no one was looking for them, Cutter could not tell. All's he knew was that everyone seemed particularly tense and agitated of late.

Conner and Abby were bickering more than usual; the tiniest movement that Conner made had seemingly become an irritation to Abby, so much so that one day Cutter even heard her snap, _"do you have to breathe so loudly?!" _at the sheepish student. Lester was no longer his usual smarmy sarcastic self, but had become quiet and sullen - preferring to sit alone in the bedroom instead of associating with the rest of them. Becker was as withdrawn as usual, and spent most of his time listening by the steel door, his head raised in alertness at each and every noise.

Jenny was not the type of woman to wear her heart on her sleeve, so to speak, and it was only through knowing her as he did that he could notice the change in her. She was a bit quieter than usual and it was usually Cutter who had to draw her into conversation, least she stay silent. She spent a lot of time playing on her mobile phone trying to get a signal through, which was, of course, impossible. Her temper (which was usually close to the surface anyway) was shorter than usual, and she snapped at small things like somebody forgetting to wash a cup through after they had used it. In short, being trapped in such a confined space with so many people had become a nightmare; one that they couldn't seem to wake up from.

Although life in the bunker did have it's perks for Cutter.

One day, he walked out of the bedroom in what he assumed was early morning (time seemed to stand still in this place), to find Jenny lying on the sofa. She was dressed in her formal clothes that she had washed through; her pants rolled up to her thighs with the heat, and her feet were casually resting up against the wall. Of course, she was fiddling with her phone. Cutter leaned against the door in silence and gave himself a moment to take in the wonderful sight of those rather remarkable bare legs, before he started to feel a tad perverted, and decided to announce himself by clearing his throat loudly. She looked around and raised her eyebrow at his frank appraisal.

"I charge by the hour you know," she smirked, her gaze returning to her phone.

"Oh I could never afford you Jenny Lewis," he grinned as he approached her.

"Oh well," she sighed in mock-disappointment as he perched on the sofa next to her. "I suppose you'll just have to put those eye balls back in your sockets then."

They both exchanged a lingering glance, Jenny apparently taking the same comfort as he did in their gently flirtation. It's not like they could do much else.

"Where's Becker?" Cutter asked, tracing a lazy line down her leg with his finger.

"He's in the shower I think," she answered, flinging her phone on the small table next to the sofa. "Why, were you thinking of joining him?"

"So if Becker's in the shower . . ." Cutter reasoned slowly, ignoring her comment. "And the rest of them are in the bedroom . . ."

Before he had even finished his sentence, Jenny had grabbed his top and pulled him in so that his lips mashed against hers. Cutter was initially surprised, but kissed her back fiercely; her touch igniting a fire inside him. Before he could comprehend what was happening, she had wrapped her legs around him and pulled him on top of her. He allowed his hands to wander under her blouse and up her stomach; aware that she trembled under his touch. He kissed down her neck urgently, and nearly exploded with excitement when she moaned down his ear, her breath so cool that it made him tingle . . .

"If you've quite finished fondling Miss Lewis, Cutter," Lester's frank voice cut into the silence, making them jump apart violently and scramble to opposite sides of the sofa. Lester had appeared from the bedroom, his forehead creased in obvious disapproval. "We need to talk," he added.

"About what?" Cutter snapped as he ran his hands over his face, unable to keep his frustration at the interruption out of his voice.

"Maybe your too busy to notice," he sighed sarcastically. "But are you aware how hot it's gotten in here lately? And I don't just mean with your steamy pornographic sessions."

"There are six people living inclose quarters," Cutter reasoned, trying to control the overwhelming desire he had to tell Lester to piss off. "The temperature's bound to increase a little."

"A little?" Lester repeated in incredulity. "It's like a sauna in here!"

"It is rather hot," Jenny interjected, pulling at the collar of her blouse as she stood up and made her way to the kitchen area. "Maybe it's just a hot day outside?" she added as she poured herself a coffee.

"Are you guys talking about the heat?" Conner's voice chimed in, as he walked out the bedroom, yawning and rubbing his head - in his underpants!

"Dear God," Lester muttered, looking away in disgust.

"Conner, what are you doing?" Cutter chuckled.

"What? It's like a hundred degrees in here!" Conner said defensively, joining Jenny in the kitchenette.

She turned to face him, and giggled.

"Hi," he said, taking the boiling pan off her and pouring the water into a mug.

"Hi," Jenny repeated, looking him up and down in amusement before turning away. "Could you put some clothes on please?"

"God," Conner huffed, setting his cup down and walking back to the bedroom. "You show a little bit of flesh and everyone gets so excited . . ." his mutters could still be heard from the other room.

Jenny leaned against the counter, still chuckling into her mug.

********

Later on that day however, there was nothing to giggle about. The room was at least three times as hot, and everyone was lounging in the living area, unable to summon any strength to do anything vaguely energetic. Cutter was leaning with his back against the wall, having discarded his shirt a while ago as the other men had (except Lester who's snobbish ways wouldn't allow him to discard any items of clothing in company). His skin was sticking to the moist wall, making him feel incredibly uncomfortable. Jenny was next to him with her eyes closed and her head resting on the wall; her blouse half unbuttoned enough to give her mild relief, but not enough so that she was exposing herself to the room. Her hair was dampened around her face.

"I - can't - take - this - anymore," Conner said in between dramatic ragged breaths. He was lying on the floor, and like Jenny, he had his eyes closed.

"There's probably something wrong with the vents," Cutter answered, his voice croaky due to the dryness of his mouth.

"You say that so casually," Conner panted. "They're the only thing keeping us alive!"

They lapsed into silence again, which was only broken by the odd uncomfortable groan. Cutter turned his head towards Jenny, who looked back at him; her heaving chest drenched in sweat.

"You okay?" he asked her for the hundredth time.

She nodded in reply, probably because she was unable to form words.

"A little dizzy," she eventually added quietly so that only he could hear.

Cutter also felt rather lightheaded; always a bad sign - it probably meant that there was depleting levels of oxygen in the room.

"It's okay," he breathed, his hand finding hers and squeezing it as tight as he could summon the energy for.

She nodded again, and fell silent. Cutter watched her for a while, noticing that her breaths came in short pants and that her eyelids looked incredibly heavy.

"Are we going to die?" she whispered to him suddenly, taking him completely by surprise. She didn't sound scared; but that was Jenny Lewis all over - she just wanted to be in the know, whatever the situation. Her eyes found his again and before he could rearrange his face from a look of concern, she shut them again; her lips twitching into a cynical smile. "I take that as a yes."

"No, of course we're not," he replied gently, unsure as to whether he was being entirely truthful.

He, himself, was finding it more and more difficult to draw breaths; his lungs aching slightly with the effort.

"Well done Lester," Conner said suddenly, his hand raised up in a mock thumbs-up gesture. "Really cracking job you did with this safe house. So far, it's imprisoned us, and now it's trying to suffocate us."

"You weren't complaining when it stopped the creature biting your head off," Lester retaliated as he lay against a bean-bag.

Conner didn't reply, but merely groaned and shuffled slightly.

"Is anyone else finding it hard to breath?" Becker asked from the sofa, his tanned and rippled chest dripping with sweat.

There was a general mumble of agreement. Cutter felt his heavy eyelids flickering with the effort of keeping them open . . . his vision was fogging slightly . . . then, his eyes shot open wider as he sensed a sudden movement. It was Lester stumbling over to the humongous door. He watched with lazy curiosity, and then all of a sudden, he tensed up with shock as he observed him doing something very peculiar - he was typing a code into the pad! Before Cutter had actually registered what he was seeing, the door rumbled and opened with a deafening snap. Everyone in the room jolted, and looked around in confusion.

"What -?" Abby mumbled, her eyes still half closed.

But Cutter was on his feet, all tiredness forgotten, replaced by pure throbbing rage. He grabbed Lester by the collar and threw him against the wall as hard as he could. Everyone was on their feet in a second; Cutter could feel their gaze on him. But he didn't care.

"You knew the code _the entire time!"_ he yelled at Lester, who screwed up his face.

"It was procedure!" he shouted back, his hands trying to prize Cutter off him. "I saved your life!"

"BY TRAPPING US DOWN HERE LIKE RATS!" Cutter bellowed, almost picking Lester up in his anger.

"Nick," Jenny warned from behind him, her hand on his shoulder.

"You lied to us!" Conner's voice accused, sounding madder than Cutter had ever heard him.

"I should have left you all upstairs to rot then for all the thanks I get!" Lester retaliated, which pushed Cutter too far; in a blind rage he raised his fist ready to knock him to kingdom-come.

But Jenny's hand caught his wrist and pulled him back away from Lester with surprising strength. Cutter made to launch back at him, certain that the man had gotten off with this too easy.

"HEY!" Jenny shouted, pushing him back with a hand to the chest. "That's enough!"

"He's kept us down here all this time!" Cutter yelled, turning his anger unreasonably on Jenny.

"I am perfectly aware of what he's done Nick," Jenny shouted back. "But knocking ten bells out of him won't make a blind bit of difference will it?"

"It'd make me feel better," Cutter muttered, but he backed away slightly, cowering under her anger.

"Everyone just needs to calm down!" Jenny added, looking around the room.

Cutter followed her gaze and saw that Conner, Abby and even Becker were all looking at Lester as though they too were about to launch at him. When Jenny was sure that no one was about to reenact a scene from Kill Bill, she turned back to Lester, disappointment and anger etched across her face.

"Why?" she asked simply.

Lester was silent for a moment, rubbing his hand over his furrowed brow.

"It was procedure," he repeated. "If the ARC is compromised, we are meant to hide in here for two weeks. But given that the room has decided to stop supplying us with oxygen - "

"I could have been up there with my men!" Becker chimed in, looking furious.

"Well I'm sure no harm has been done - " Lester said, desperately trying to defend himself.

Cutter couldn't take anymore; before he gave in to the urge to smack Lester in the mouth again, he walked over to the opened door, and peered out into the corridor. He withdrew his head quickly as an horrid, overwhelming smell hit his nostrils; and he slapped his hand to his mouth to stop himself retching. The dead corpse of the Future Predator that Becker had mowed down was still outside the door, and by the smell of it, decaying profusely. The rest of them joined him, their noses wrinkled. They stared at it for a long while, all obviously unsure of what they should do.

Something didn't feel right.

"Come on," Cutter sighed eventually, grabbing his top up from the floor and pulling it on as he stepped out into the corridor, avoiding the rotting creature as he went.

Jenny was directly behind him, and they all walked in silence up the stairs. There was an odd eery feeling that Cutter just couldn't shake off, and by Jenny's expression, she obviously felt the same thing. There was no noise ahead of them . . .

They finally arrived in the main room. Or more correctly, what used to be the main room - now it was just a wreckage. There were big gapping holes in the ceiling, the floor was littered with rubble, bits of the Detector were strewn around the room . . . it was a complete mess. Cutter felt his stomach clench into a knot; what on earth was going on? Where was everyone?

"What the hell . . .?" Abby breathed from next to him as everyone surveyed the place in shock.

No body could talk for a long while, and no one made any effort to move until Becker suddenly made for the exit; his gun held in front of him. Without a word, they all hurried after him. Cutter's eyes scanned every inch of the building as they passed . . . why had it not been rebuilt? Becker pushed the door open and light poured in; temporarily blinding Cutter as his pupils had not seen daylight for a week. He ran down to the almost destroyed gate with everyone, blinking stupidly as his eyes adjusted.

The sight that he saw in front on him chilled him to his very core.

From beside him, he heard Jenny let out a dry sob and clap her hands to her mouth.

Dead bodies littered the street in front of them.

********

**Sorry to leave you on a cliffhanger!**

**Also, I may not be able to update again for a few days, as it has reached the point were I actually need to get some work done or risk failing my degree lol! **

**But as usual, if I find a spare hour or two I will try an get a couple of chapters out.**

**Hope you enjoyed the chapter :D x**


	10. The unexpected discovery

Chapter 10

The team remained silent as they absorbed the eery scene in front of them. Jenny had known that there would have been some casualties judging by how many creatures they had seen pour out of the anomaly, but looking around at all these corpses . . . what . . . what? The fact that the bodies hadn't been removed, and that they were dotted around as far as the eye could see was an ominous sign . . . there was no one around _to_ remove them . . .

"Oh my God," she heard Abby whisper next to her; her voice muffled by her hands. "Oh my God . . ."

"Where is everyone?" Conner said in a high pitched voice.

No body justified his question with a response. It was quite clear were everyone was. Jenny's mind was whirling; she just couldn't take this in . . . she was aware that she was trembling uncontrollably . . . all these people . . .

Then suddenly her mind fell on her family; her parents and her brother! They weren't dead . . . they couldn't be . . .

"No," she said aloud involuntarily, before she started forward towards the half torn down gate, ducking underneath a bar to get through a large gap.

She could hear voices calling her back but she ignored them; she needed a car . . . but each and every car she passed was completely trashed.

"Jenny?" Cutter's voice cut into her thoughts. He was in front of her, with his hands on both of her arms. "What are you doing?"

"I need to find a car," she answered, distracted as she looked around.

"Why?" he asked in disbelief.

"I need to know their okay," she mumbled, aware that he probably wouldn't know what she was talking about.

Then she suddenly spotted a car that looked intact at the bottom of the long road . . . it was worth a try. She pulled herself free of Cutter's grip, and took off again. She could hear the rest of the team following her.

"Jenny!" Cutter repeated, grabbing her arm and spinning her around. "Who are you talking about?"

"My family," she answered. "I need to see them."

Cutter's expression turned from a look of confusion to a look of sympathy.

"Jenny the chances of them being alive - " he began gently.

"No," she snapped, shaking her head defiantly. "No, they can't be . . ."

"I agree with Jenny," Abby interjected. "I want to go too."

"Great lets go," Jenny said curtly to Abby before turning to leave, but Cutter pulled her back. "Let go of me," she added to him.

"You're not going," Cutter said shortly, tightening his grip on her arm.

Jenny wrenched herself away from him, feeling anger take over the numbness.

"Don't tell me what do," she whispered dangerously.

"Jenny I want to go and check on my family to," Conner said, sounding close to tears. "But it's not like we can go all the way to Yorkshire - "

"And what about you?" Jenny asked Lester.

"My family are in Paris; their probably fine," he mumbled, not meeting her in the eye.

"Well good for you," Jenny said sarcastically, her voice breaking as she forced herself to keep her tears at bay. "But before you get to relaxed, ask yourself that if foreign countries aren't affected; why haven't they sent troops in to rescue us?"

Everyone fell silence, all possibly considering the truth of this statement.

"We are going back to the ARC to get weapons and then we're going to figure out a plan from there," Cutter continued eventually, as though that settled the matter.

"I'm your boss Cutter - you can't give me orders," she snapped.

"You're not thinking clearly!"

"Come on Abby," she said, ignored Cutter's comment and turning away.

"You're not going anywhere!" Cutter bellowed.

"Watch me!" she yelled, storming off; Abby at her heels.

They were nearly to the car when gunshots broke into the silence, flying past them. They both ducked, their hands over their heads. For one wild moment, Jenny thought that the rest of the team were shooting at them to stop them from leaving once and for all; but then she heard that chilling clicking noise from in front of them. She looked up and felt fear shoot through her at the sight of the familiar but no less terrifying creature. The bullets had flew past the predator as they had done them.

"MOVE!" Becker barked at them, taking aim again.

They didn't need telling twice; Jenny grabbed Abby and pulled her towards a house that the rest of the team was running towards. Cutter booted the door in with one kick.

"Get in!" he shouted, pushing Jenny in more roughly that he would have done usually.

Becker was backing towards the house, firing at the predator as he went. When it finally collapsed to the floor, he turned and followed them inside. Jenny, Abby and Lester stood in the trashed unfamiliar hallway in shock as they watched Cutter, Becker and Conner block the door with a heavy-looking piece of furniture.

"That is exactly what I was talking about!" Cutter exclaimed at Jenny as he turned around, looking furious.

"You're blaming me for that?" Jenny gasped in indignance.

"You were the one shouting at the top of your lungs - "

"Well you were the one who made a big to-do about me going - "

"Ssssh!" Becker snapped, looking up at the ceiling with his gun poised.

Jenny and Cutter fell silent, but still glared at each other. But then Jenny heard what Becker must have picked up on; there was a high pitched noise coming from one of the upstairs rooms. Oh God . . . there was one of them in the house; and they'd just locked themselves in with it! Cutter gestured wordlessly to Becker to hand him the second gun he kept in his belt. They both ascended the stairs together, their guns held in front of them. Jenny went to follow, but Conner's hand on her shoulder stopped her.

"Wait," he whispered.

She did as she was told for once, as despite what she had just said, she knew that it was her fault the Future Predator had been drawn to them in the first place. They all stood in a tense silence; Jenny straining her ears to hear what was going on up there. They all jumped slightly as the sounds of a door being kicked in echoed around the house; the high-pitched noise becoming more discernable. Loud footsteps signaled the re-arrival of Becker and Cutter, the latter holding something in his arms -

A baby.

It looked about two months old, and had wisps of jet black hair over it's tiny head. Judging by the disheveled pink clothes it donned, it was obviously a girl. It's little face was bright red and screwed up as it screamed at the top of it's lungs.

"What on earth - ?" Lester gasped.

"Conner, go and make up a bottle or something, she's starving," Cutter ordered as he descended the last few stairs.

"I don't know how to do that," Conner said, looking at the baby as though it was an alien.

"Just use your common sense," Cutter sighed, hoisting the baby up more.

"Come on I'll help you," Abby said, pushing Conner towards the kitchen.

Cutter crossed the hall towards Jenny; the baby held out to her.

"Oh no," Jenny said immediately, shaking her head. "Don't give that thing to me; I hate kids."

"Just hold her for a second, while I find some new clothes for her," he argued, thrusting the bawling baby at her.

Jenny held it awkwardly up in front of her, unsure of the proper way to do this; she had never held a baby before - or had ever wanted to. It was soaking wet and smelly, and Jenny had no desire to hold it closer. Cutter looked at her in amusement for a second.

"Just sort of cup it," he informed her, taking Jenny's arm and arranging it so that the baby was lying against her chest with Jenny's arm resting under it.

" . . . and put the other hand there," he continued, placing Jenny's hand on the baby's back. "And just jiggle a bit to get her to calm down."

"If you seem to know so much about it, why don't you hold it?" Jenny snapped, wincing slightly at the baby's screeches.

"I'm busy," Cutter answered with a smile, before running back up the stairs.

"Don't leave me with it - " Jenny began, but he was already out of sight.

Lester gave her a look that clearly said he didn't envy her position, before walking off after Conner and Abby.

Jenny scowled and jiggled the thing up and down. It fell silent almost immediately, except for some odd squeaks, and nuzzled into her neck.

"Where did you find it?" Jenny asked Becker quietly.

"She was barricaded into a room," he answered grimly.

"And her parents?"

"No sign of them."

Conner and Abby reappeared, looking rather rattled.

"There are bloodstains all over the kitchen," Abby informed them in a hushed voice. "And the back door was wide open."

Without another word, Becker made his way into the kitchen, probably to secure it.

"Here's the milk," Conner added, holding out a filled plastic bottle to Jenny. "It was that powdered baby stuff, so it should be good."

"No; no way," Jenny refused flatly. "You feed it."

"But she seems happier with you," Conner pointed out with a smile. "She's stopped crying."

Huffing, Jenny took the bottle, balancing the baby on her chest as she did so.

"I don't even know how to feed it," Jenny said desperately.

"I think you should start with putting the bottle to her mouth," Abby joked, obviously taking amusement in Jenny's discomfort.

Jenny glared at her, before walking of into what she assumed to be the living room. It was just as trashed as the rest of the house, and the curtains were drawn, making it incredibly dull. Pushing out the image of what might have actually happened in here out of her mind, Jenny sat down gently on the ripped couch, and lay the baby across her lap and cupped it's head awkwardly. It looked up at her with questioning big blue eyes as though it was wondering what the hell was going on.

"Come on then," Jenny sighed, as she held the bottle up to it's mouth. "I'm sure you know what to do."

The baby drank gratefully, almost desperately, which made Jenny feel an unexpected twinge of sorrow for it; how long had it been since she had been fed? As she gulped down the liquid, it's tiny hand closed around Jenny's finger. In spite of herself, Jenny felt herself thinking that it was rather cute . . .

"And there was me thinking that you had no maternal instinct whatsoever," Cutter's amused voice issued in the room.

He was leaning against the wall, holding what looked like fresh baby clothes in one hand and a pack of nappies in the other.

"I don't," Jenny replied, looking back at the baby, and was surprised to see that half the milk had already gone.

"Well you're doing a great impression about someone who has," he grinned, setting the stuff he held down on the couch next to her.

"I'm a great actress you see," she said, catching his eye and smiling.

He smiled back, watching her for a few seconds before straightening up.

"Change her when she's finished the bottle, and then you might want to give her another one; she must be hungry," he said, as he made to leave the room.

"No, Nick - "

"I just need to go and talk to the team for a minute."

"Nick I'm not getting stuck with the baby just because I'm a woman - "

"Sorry I can't hear you . . ." he said as he left.

"Nick? _Nick! _Don't you dare_ - _" Jenny hissed after him, but he didn't reply.

Sighing, she looked back down at the baby, who had all but inhaled the entire bottle already.

"Now we don't like him okay?" she whispered to her, as she took the empty bottle out of her mouth and put her down on the couch to change her. "He's a horrible smelly man, and me and you are mad at him, okay?"

The baby gurgled slightly, and seemed much happier now she had a full stomach. Her eyes looked up at Jenny with so much innocence and trusting; so much so that Jenny found that she had a lump in her throat; the baby had no idea that they were possible the only people left; she didn't know that it's parents had been killed whilst trying to save her; she didn't know that at this very moment, and possible for the rest of her life, they were all in more danger than was imaginable.

********

Jenny felt someone shaking her awake gently; she must have fell asleep at some point. Cutter's face hovered over her, making her start slightly.

"Is something wrong?" she asked urgently.

He shook his head, and put his finger to his lips, indicating that she should be quiet. She looked down and saw that the baby was fast asleep on her chest, dressed in her clean, dry clothes. Jenny straightened up quietly, supporting the baby's head as she put her down gently on the couch. Cutter jerked his head to indicate that she should follow him out to the hall.

"Where's everyone else?" Jenny asked as he turned to her.

"Asleep," he answered. "Except Becker; he's been securing the house and he needs to do the front room now - that's why I woke you."

"Right," said Jenny, running her fingers through her hair. "And did you lot decide anything whilst I was playing mummy?" she added, trying to keep the bitterness that she had missed out on their discussion out of her voice.

"Becker's going to get some weapons from the ARC tomorrow," he explained with a slight smile at her comment. "We've agreed that it's too dangerous to go back there permanently now that we've got the baby. But Conner's going as well to get some supplies to try and make something that might help us out. I didn't ask any more; I doubt that whatever goes on inside his brain wouldn't translate well into conversation; so I'll leave him with it."

"Are we safe here?"

"Just as much as anywhere else," Cutter sighed. "As long as we keep the noise down. Conner's talked about making some sort of sound reflector, but I think that's just a pipe dream - "

"Nick, I still want to go and see my parents house," Jenny said before she could stop herself.

Cutter's smile faltered.

"Jenny, it's too dangerous right now," he said in a soothing tone.

"But - "

"I understand that you're worried," he continued. "But it's not worth your life to see something you already know - "

"We don't know their dead," Jenny snapped.

"Okay," he said as gently as possible. "I promise that we'll talk about it more tomorrow, but right now, we need to just get out of Becker's way so he can do his job."

Jenny wanted to argue back, but she knew it would be futile at the moment.

"Where are we sleeping?" she sighed, trying to push her resentment to the back of her head.

"Conner and Abby are sleeping in the back room," Cutter answered, pointing at the door at the bottom of the hall. Lester's in one of the single rooms. And we're in the master bedroom."

"How did you swing that?" Jenny asked, unable to keep the amusement out of her voice.

"Because we're sleeping with the baby; surprisingly enough no one else fancied the job."

"Imagine that," Jenny sighed.

"So why don't you go and get her and I'll go and make up another bottle?" Cutter suggested.

Jenny refrained from laughing with difficulty; they had only been together a short while, but from the way they were acting it was like they were married with a kid! But needs must, she supposed.

********

It felt extremely odd and unsettling to be sleeping in someone else's bed; especially seeing as the previous owners had met their end in such a horrific way. Cutter was asleep in seconds, seemingly exhausted. But Jenny couldn't seem to settle; probably because she had already had some sleep. The baby was in some sort of Moses basket next to Jenny's side of the bed; something that Cutter had found in her room. She couldn't go back in her cot as it needed completely changing; something which they had had no time to do.

Just as Jenny was dozing of to sleep, she jerked awake as the baby let out a high-pitched scream. Time and time again, she tried to feed her, but she didn't seem interested; all she seemed to want was to be held.

"For Goodness sake, just go to sleep," Jenny whispered to her after about an hour of rocking her.

But the baby just looked up at her with a happy content look on her face.

"I knew there was a reason why I didn't want kids," Jenny informed the gurgling baby, but she couldn't quite manage to stay mad at her.

********

"Sleep well?" Abby asked in obvious delight as Jenny staggered into the kitchen.

Jenny groaned in replied, taking a seat at the kitchen table and putting her head in her hands.

"Take that as a no then?" she giggled.

"I am never ever having children," Jenny mumbled, her voice muffled. "Never."

They were both talking in hushed voices; something they had all unconsciously agreed upon without discussion.

"She is cute though, you have to admit."

"No, a sleeping baby is cute," Jenny pointed out. "It took me hours to get her off to sleep and it took years of my life."

"Where is she now?"

"It's Nick's turn with her," Jenny smiled.

"How come she's so unsettled?"

"I have no idea," Jenny yawned. "But now I finally know why my mother hates me."

But after saying this, she felt an uncomfortable knot clench in her stomach. Thinking about her mother was too painful. Obviously, this must have shown on her expression, as Abby gave her a sympathetic look.

"We could still go you know," she said so quietly that Jenny barely heard her.

Jenny looked up at her, but before she could reply, Cutter walked in with the baby in his arms.

"She's hungry, I've just got to make up a bottle," he explained, passing her back to Jenny.

She cuddled into the nape of her neck immediately.

"Oh don't try and make it up to me now," Jenny said to her. "You burnt your bridges last night."

"She wasn't that bad," Cutter interjected.

"Like you would know," Jenny snorted. "You were asleep!"

"Or maybe I was just pretending to be asleep so I wouldn't have to get up," Cutter suggested, his eyes twinkling.

Abby giggled at this.

"Don't you laugh, it's yours and Conner's turn tonight," Jenny joked, wiping the smile off her face.

********

Becker and Conner returned back to the house safely much to everyone's relief. The latter came back with bags full of equipment he thought might be useful in what ever invention he was planning on, and Becker came back ladened with guns and ammunition. They reported that they saw no other living thing, human or otherwise, which Jenny was unsure as to whether this was a positive thing or not. They had tried the radio earlier that day, but were greeted with noting but static interference, to which Cutter panicked and switched the device off, explaining that the Predators would be able to hear it. Abby had also suggested trying the television, but all the ones in this particular house were broken, and it was pointless to go searching other houses incase the creatures lurked in there. However, Jenny had other things on her mind - she had been going over and over what Abby had said.

The team went to bed that night with nothing else decided upon, other than the fact that they all agreed they needed a plan, but no one was very forthcoming with a suggestion. Despite the threat she had given Abby, Jenny and Cutter ended up with the baby again, and strangely enough, Jenny didn't mind at all. However, she had decided on something; she just needed to wait until the right moment . . .

The sounds of Cutter's heavy breathing filled the room eventually; he had fallen asleep with his arm around Jenny. As quietly and as slowly as humanly possible, Jenny disengaged herself from his grasp and slipped out of the bed. For a second, she stood in the room and held her breath; but he was still fast asleep. Breathing a sigh of relief, she pulled on her blouse and buttoned it quickly. She peered into the Moses basket and saw that the baby was wide awake, and when she spotted Jenny, she kicked her legs in excitement.

"Sssshhh," Jenny said gently, crouching down next to her. She placed her hand in the cot, and the baby grasped her finger again. Jenny looked at Cutter to ensure he was in a deep sleep before she spoke again.

"I've got to go away for a while," she whispered to the baby, not knowing why she felt the need to clarify her actions with something that didn't even understand her. "So I can't look after you anymore. But you see that man," she added, pointing at a motionless Cutter. "He's going to keep you safe and make sure nothings happens to you."

She stroked the little girls face gently, and eventually, the baby's eyes began to close as she fell into a light sleep.

"Good bye," Jenny whispered as she straightened up, and impatiently wiped the wetness on her face away.

She crossed the room, and gave Cutter one final look before she turned and left, now unable to stop the silent tears falling thick and fast from her eyes. She crept down the stairs, knowing that Becker woke at the slightest sound. She entered the back room, which was filled with Conner's snores, and spotted Abby on the couch. She snook over, stepping over Conner (who was on the floor) and clamped her hand around Abby's mouth; the girls eyes flew open in a blind panic and she let out a scream which was muffled against Jenny's palm.

"Sssshhh," Jenny said immediately, not pulling her hand away until Abby nodded.

She jerked her head to indicate that Abby should follow her outside, and silently, they made it to the hall; Abby closing the door after them slowly.

"What -?" Abby began in shock, but Jenny cut her off.

"I'm going to my parents house," she explained quietly. "I just need to know, one way or another . . . do you want to come?"

Abby bit her lip and thought for a moment, shuffling her feet slightly.

"Okay," she whispered finally. "But can we go to my parents house as well? It's not far - "

"Of course we can," Jenny nodded, eager to have some company.

********

An hour later, Jenny and Abby were walking silently down a deserted dark road. They had originally broke into a car and driven it, but the oil had depleted alarmingly fast, and they had broken down a while back, and so were forced to go on foot the rest of the way. They made slow progress, walking close together; Jenny holding the gun that they had snook from Becker's stash.

"Aren't you scared?" Abby whispered to her after a while.

"No - I'm terrified," Jenny replied honestly. "But we need to do this."

"I know," Abby breathed. "What do you think their going to do when they realise we're gone?"

Jenny didn't answer for a moment; her mind wondering to the image of Cutter waking up to find the bed next to him empty. For all she knew, he had been woken up by the baby, and was already aware of her disappearance; God he was going to be furious.

"I'm sure they'll understand," Jenny said finally, and completely untruthfully.

Abby gave her a look of disbelief.

"Okay, maybe they won't exactly be thrilled," Jenny reasoned quietly. "But what's done is done."

"Do you think they'll come after us?" Abby asked.

Again, Jenny didn't reply straight away. Her honest thought was yes; of course they would come looking for them - well Cutter and Conner would do anyway. But this though made her incredibly uncomfortable - what if something happened to them while they were looking for them? It'd be all her fault . . .

They passed a car that looked drive worthy, and Jenny stopped dead, her hand grabbing Abby's jacked to halt her. As with her other car, one of the doors was open and the keys were still in the ignition; God knows what had happened to the owner . . . Jenny leaned in to take a closer look . . .

A gunshot cracked like a whip through the deadening silence.

Jenny straightened up, looking wildly into the darkness that was abating slightly into dawn.

"Abby did you hear that?" she asked in a panic. But she didn't respond, so Jenny spun around. "Abby?"

She saw Abby looking down at her own stomach in shock; Jenny followed her gaze, and her own stomach jolted with a sickening swoop. There was a huge blood stain on her top that was growing by the second; suddenly, she collapsed forward onto her knees.

"ABBY!" Jenny yelled, hurrying forward to catch the girl before she fell to the floor. Jenny felt something hot on the hand that was on Abby's back, and pulled it up to her face.

It was covered in blood.

"Oh my God," she breathed, pure panic taking over her.

********

**Another cliffhanger I'm afraid!**

**I shall try and update again as soon as I can.**

**Let me know your thoughts x**


	11. The consequences

Chapter 11

Cutter jolted awake suddenly as the cries of the baby pierced the dead silence of the room. Confused, it was a few seconds before he realised that the bed next to him was completely Jenny-less. Huffing slightly, he staggered out of the bed, picked up the baby and jiggled her up and down in the semi-darkness.

"Sssshh," he said as gently as possible. "You're alright . . ."

He looked around the room, still rather bemused; where was Jenny? One thing he had learned about her since sharing a bed with her is that she slept like the dead - it wasn't like her to get up for an early morning wander. Cutter sighed, his brow furrowed as the baby hunted for her bottle on his chest; maybe Jenny was still upset that he was refusing to let her go and check on her family? But he was just trying to protect her. Then again, it's not like he had anyone else he was worried about - all the people he cared for were in this house with him. Maybe he was being selfish? After all, if his parents were still alive, he would be desperate to see if they were okay, even if it did mean traveling all the way to Scotland. Perhaps he wasn't being as sympathetic as he should be?

He sat down on the edge of the bed and fed the feisty little girl who was all but demanding her bottle. She fell asleep again before she had even finished her meal; much to Cutter's relief. He loved babies; he always had. But he was a long way off from being ready to take one on full time. The thought made him tingle slightly as he carefully placed the baby back in the basket; maybe one day it would be his and Jenny's child he was rocking to sleep. Then, realisation hit him like a tonne of bricks as he backed away from the cot quietly - what sort of world would this be to bring children into? A world filled with danger and death - was that any sort of environment conducive to child raising? The answer was, of course, no. Unreasonable disappointment burnt through him as he pulled his top back on - everything he had been planning for his entire life (unconsciously or otherwise) was now no longer possible. But he was being silly thinking about such things; at least he was alive, which is more than could be said for countless other individuals. He was being extremely selfish. And anyway, he and Jenny didn't exactly have a normal relationship; it was dysfunctional at best, and most importantly, it was very short-term. Who was he to be planning this future with her when they hadn't even had 'the talk' yet. That soul-crushing, nerve-wracking talk that women love so much; where is this relationship going? Are we moving too fast? Are we moving to slow? Do you see marriage in the future? Do you want kids? Now Jenny didn't really strike him as the type of woman that needed this talk, just as Helen wasn't. But she had a fiancé once - surely that meant she did want to be married some day?

_God Cutter, get over yourself,_ he thought as slipped out of the bedroom door quietly. _Who would they get to perform the ceremony; a Future Predator? And anyway, she may not even want to get married to you . . . why would she? And she's already said she hates kids, despite how good she had been with the baby._

This entire thought pattern was pointless anyway; why would marriage matter in a world lacking in society? He pushed these unreasonable ideas out of his head as he crept down the stairs, not wanting to wake anyone up; he just wanted to check that Jenny wasn't too pissed at him.

But she wasn't in the kitchen, or the living room - only Becker snoozing on the couch could be seen. Cutter opened the door to the back room where Abby and Conner usually slept; maybe she was with them? But all he was greeted with was the sight of Conner snoring on the floor . . . and no Abby.

_That's odd,_ Cutter thought, as he entered the room.

"Conner?" he said, prodding him with his foot. "Conner?"

"Five more minutes," Conner mumbled, turning in his sleep.

"Conner!" Cutter snapped, more impatiently.

The student jerked awake suddenly, looking around in alarm. When he spotted Cutter, his expression relaxed slightly, and he leaned up on his elbows.

"What? What's the matter?" he asked, sounding irritated.

"Where's Abby?" Cutter inquired.

"She's right - " Conner began, glancing around at the couch. "there - " he finished, looking bemused. "Well she was there . . ."

Cutter was starting to panic now . . . where on earth were they . . . unless -

"Oh no," Cutter muttered, more to himself than Conner.

"What? _What? _" Conner demanded, getting to his feet.

"They've gone," he answered numbly, feeling fear descending on him, clouding his mind.

"Gone? Gone where? Who's gone?" Conner babbled, clearly not understanding.

"Jenny and Abby," Cutter answered, running his hand through his hair in worry. "They've both gone . . . they said they wanted to, but I didn't think they'd actually leave - "

"Cutter, what the hell are you talking about? Where have they gone?" Conner asked desperately.

"To check on their families. They've snook out."

"No," Conner said, shaking his head. "No, they wouldn't just leave . . . "

"Well whereelse would they be?" Cutter snapped, thinking hard.

They couldn't be that far ahead of them; but the thing was that Cutter had no idea where Jenny's parents lived, or Abby's for that matter. But maybe they left a trail to follow.

"Where are you going?" Conner demanded as Cutter turned to leave.

"I'm going to find them," Cutter answered, not bothering to look back - he wasn't interested in being talked out of it. But . . .

"I'm coming too!" Conner insisted, scrambling after him.

"No," Cutter replied shortly. "It's too dangerous - "

"All the more reason for me to come," Conner argued, as he nearly tripped putting his shoes on. "You might need me!"

Cutter turned to face him, wanting to argue that he'd be better off staying here incase the girls came back. But the look of determination glowing on his face made him hesitate.

"Okay," he conceded, sighing slightly. "But you exactly what I say, got it?"

Conner nodded immediately.

********

Jenny couldn't think straight; it was as though everything was happening in slow motion - terror was flooding through her every vein. She had raised Abby's upper body onto her lap, and was cradling her - she couldn't think of anything else to do.

Abby's blood-soaked hands were trembling violently, and she was breathing erratically in shock.

"You're okay . . . " Jenny breathed, stroking Abby's hair out of her face, tears clouding her vision. "You're okay . . ."

There was no wondering about who had fired the bullet_; _there was no fear about the fact that Jenny herself could be the next target; all she could think about was getting help. She wanted to scream Cutter's name at the top of her lungs, but she knew he would never hear her.

_Think, think . . ._ Jenny thought wildly, hearing herself sob aloud.

"Come on," she whispered to Abby, her voice cracking as she tried to heave her up. "We need to get you some help, come on."

Unsurprisingly, Abby couldn't stay on her feet, so Jenny pulled the girls arm over her shoulders and held it tightly in place. She grabbed her around the waist and hauled her up.

"Come on," Jenny said desperately, struggling to hold up her weight.

She walked her over to the car she was going to use previously and awkwardly placed Abby across the back seat; she seemed to be losing consciousness. Jenny hurdled into the drivers seat and tried to start the engine.

But it wouldn't start.

"Damn it!" Jenny shouted, slapping both hands on the wheel.

She didn't care that she was making enough noise to attract every Predator within a few miles radius. Jenny flew out of the car again, fear fogging her mind; she pulled Abby out of the back seat and tried to hold her up again; her head lolled forwards immediately.

"Abby?" Jenny cried. "Abby, I need you to try and walk for me, can you do that?"

She didn't reply, but when Jenny moved forward, Abby's feet also staggered clumsily. With every step it became increasingly difficult to hold her up; the blood on Jenny's hands making her grip slippery. Jenny didn't know that a person could bleed so much; it was everywhere! As they moved forward, Abby's feet slipped and slid as she struggled to keep herself upright; her faint grip on Jenny's neck tightening slightly.

After a long while, Jenny actually found herself marveling at how Abby kept putting one foot in front of the other; she had a hole in her stomach! How was she doing this? However, no sooner had she thought that, Abby's knees buckled.

"No, stay on your feet," Jenny begged, tears still falling uncontrollably as she tried to hold her up.

"I . . . I can't . . ." Abby breathed, her face contorted in pain as she fell to the ground.

Jenny fell to her knees next to her, sobbing; this wasn't happening . . . she would wake up any moment and this will all just have been a bad dream . . .

"Tell . . . tell Conner," Abby said faintly in between short shallow breaths. "Tell him . . ."

"I'm not telling him anything," Jenny replied stubbornly, trying to keep her voice steady. "You can tell him yourself when you see him."

Abby started to shake and she let out a painful gasp, her face tear stained. Then suddenly, her head fell sidewards and her eyes went blank as though all the light had been taken from them.

"Abby? ABBY!" Jenny cried, shaking her violently; desperately.

But she remained motionless, sprawled across the middle of the road.

"No," Jenny sobbed, unable to take in what had happened. She lent her face against Abby's and wrapped her arms around her. "No . . . please don't die . . . " she begged, her shoulders shaking in grief.

********

**:-( I hate writing character deaths! **

**Sorry everyone!**

**X x x**


	12. The aftermath

Chapter 12

Lester had begrudgingly agreed to keep an eye on the baby when Cutter and Conner hastily explained the situation; however, he only did so when Cutter promised (untruthfully) that she was unlikely to wake up again until later that morning. They left Becker asleep, as Cutter was sure that the more people went, the more danger they'd likely be in, but they did sneak a couple of guns from his stash for good measure. As they crept outside, Cutter was thrilled to see that puddles of oil were spotted along the road, carrying on into the distance - they had a trail to follow! He was sure they hadn't been there before. Both men began to sprint forward, following the splodges silently; the only sound to be heard was the patting of their feet on the concrete.

"I can believe that Abby wouldn't tell me they were going," Conner gasped after a while.

"She probably knew you'd try and stop her," Cutter reasoned, slightly out of breath.

"Would you have stopped Jenny if she had told you?" Conner enquired, slowing down his pace.

"I would have tied her to the bed."

"Eeew," Conner shuddered.

"You know what I mean," Cutter gasped, stopping and bending over with his hands on his thighs, trying to catch his breath.

"WAY too much information . . ." Conner continued, stopping at Cutter's side.

"The oil trail stops here," Cutter pointed out, ignoring Conner's comment - that conversation had taken an uncomfortable turn.

Conner followed his gaze and groaned.

"They must have gone on foot the rest of the way," he said, pointing at an abandoned broken down car. "What now?"

Cutter was thinking hard, but if he was honest with himself, he had no clue as to which way they should go; _why_ had he never asked Jenny where her parents lived?

"I think we should keep going straight ahead," Conner reasoned. "Because Jenny's really posh - no offence - but all the toff houses are that way - "

"Shut up," Cutter barked, holding his hand up. He was sure he'd heard something.

They listened for a while.

"What?" Conner said finally. "I can't hear anything . . ."

Cutter shook his head in a defiant movement, forcing him into silence again. He could defiantly hear noises coming from in front of them.

"Come on," he said to Conner, before running off; the student huffing behind him.

As they ran, the sound became more defined and discernable . . . it was a woman screaming . . . it was Jenny screaming . . .

_Oh God, _Cutter thought to himself, fear flooding through him.

He increased his speed so he was sprinting flat out; Conner (who had finally picked up on the noise) was by his side, running as fast as he could. Finally, an image came into view . . . Abby was lying in the middle of the road, and Jenny was leaning over her, her shoulders shaking. What . . . ?

"Jenny!" Cutter yelled, his confusion turning into down right terror- there was a pool of blood around them.

Jenny looked up, her face was stained with tears and blood.

The men reached them, and Cutter's stomach tightened sickeningly; Abby was motionless, and a bloody wound on her stomach was visible in the dim dawn light. Cutter scampered to Abby's side, temporarily speechless as the severity of the girls injury became clear. He looked up at Jenny; she was covered in blood; her face, her hands, her blouse. And she was crying uncontrollably.

"What happened?" Cutter demanded, finally finding his voice.

He heard Conner behind him vomit on the ground with a sickening squelch.

"I . . . I . . . I don't know," Jenny sobbed, unable to speak properly; her breathing was erratic. "Some . . . someone . . . shot . . . over there . . ." she finished, gesturing over to a clump of trees on the other side of the road.

"Abby?" Cutter said, loudly and clearly. "Abby? Can you hear me?"

No response.

"Conner, give me your jacket," Cutter demanded, turning around to see him stood shock still, gapping at the sight in front of him. "Conner, now!"

"Okay, right," he said in a panicked voice, struggling out of his jacket.

Cutter took it and pressed it to Abby's stomach.

"Hold that there," he told Jenny, trying to keep his head clear and not succumb to his terror.

Jenny did as she was told, her bloodied hands shaking as she held the jacket in place.

"Keep the pressure on it," Cutter added, as he leaned up on his knees.

He put his hands over the left side of Abby's chest and started heart compressions; he needed to keep the blood circulating . . .

"When I say so, you pinch her nose and breathe into her mouth," he added to Jenny, who nodded immediately. "Do it for one second; no longer . . . now."

Jenny followed his instructions and, still keeping one hand on the jacket, she breathed a shaky breath into Abby; her chest rose and fell, and then remained motionless.

"Again," Cutter demanded.

She repeated the action, still sobbing as she pulled away.

There was no response.

"Shit," Cutter muttered, resuming the compressions.

"She's going to be okay, right?" Conner's voice squeaked from behind him.

Cutter didn't reply; he didn't want to reply . . .

"Come on," Cutter mumbled to Abby as he pressed on her chest. "Come on . . ."

He put his unsteady fingers to her neck, searching for a pulse that wasn't there . . .

He sat back on the floor, numbness clenching up inside of him . . . she was gone . . . she'd lost to much blood . . .

"No you've got to keep trying!" Conner bellowed, falling to his knees next to him. "You can't just give up!"

"Conner - "

"NO!" Conner refused to listen, leaning in to Abby's face. "Abby, wake up . . . please wake up!"

Cutter watched, powerless to do anything more.

Jenny got to her feet, running her blood-stained hands through her hair. She staggered over to a nearby car and placed her hands on it; leaning forward as a fresh wave of sobs enveloped her. It looked as though she was struggling to stop herself from collapsing.

"Abby, come back . . ." Conner cried, cradling her in his arms. "Come back . . ."

"Conner - " Cutter began, putting his hands on his shoulders to pull him away.

But Conner wrenched himself out of his grip. So Cutter got up and walked over to Jenny; his legs felt like they didn't work properly anymore. She didn't look up at him; she looked to ashamed of herself to meet his eye.

"How could you be so stupid?" Cutter spat at her before he could stop himself; it was all too fresh . . . too new . . .

She didn't reply; only screwed up her face, the tears still falling like a waterfall down her cheeks. He felt a twinge of guilt shoot through him as he watched her; he knew she wasn't responsible . . . she hadn't asked for this . . .

"This is all your fault," Conner stated in a tone Cutter had never heard him use before; full of hate and contempt. He was looking at Jenny.

Jenny turned around to face him, but she didn't argue, she just bowed her head in shame.

"I'm sorry," she whispered eventually, her voice cracking.

"Sorry?" Conner repeated spitefully. "You're sorry?"

He lowered Abby's body to the ground gently and stood up, trembling all over.

"You," he said aggressively, pointing a shaking finger at her. "You caused this; you made her go with you . . ."

"No," Jenny sobbed, shaking her head.

"Don't even try to deny it!" Conner bellowed as he approaching her.

Cutter jumped forward and put his hand on Conner's chest to push him away from her; he knew that there wasn't a violent bone in his body, but he was upset; he wasn't thinking straight. Jenny didn't show any surprise at his reaction; it was as if she thought she deserved it.

"That's enough," Cutter said sternly to Conner.

"No!" Conner cried, punching him in the chest.

But Cutter didn't react, he only put his arms around him.

"No . . ." he sobbed, still faintly beating Cutter in the chest before he succumbed to tears. "No . . ."

Cutter hugged him back tightly, allowing him to cry on his shoulder without rushing him.

"I'm very sorry for your loss," a cold familiar voice spoke from in front of them.

Helen.


	13. The surprise saviour

Chapter 13

In a split second, Jenny had pulled out a gun and was aiming it at Helen with a shaking hand.

"You,' she spat, her face contorted in anger. "You did this."

"Tut, tut, tut Jenny," Helen smiled, shaking her head. "You might want to put that gun down."

She looked around at the trees as over a dozen armed soldiers walked out, their guns poised and aiming at Jenny; but the odd thing was that they were all the same man! It was the Cleaner they had seen at the shopping mall, and then again in the Silurian era; he was replicated over and over again! It was the strangest thing Cutter had ever seen in his life - he had seen this man die in the past; eaten by one of those Scorpions. And now here he was; a dozen copies of him! Cutter looked at Jenny, and saw her frightened gaze travel across all the guns, as though weighing up whether to lower her weapon or not.

"You'll be dead before you can even think about pulling the trigger Miss Lewis," Helen added, looking amused. "If I were you, I'd put the gun down."

Jenny remained in her position for a moment, obviously thinking hard; Cutter could practically hear the thoughts whirling around in her head. Then, slowly, she lowered the gun.

"Good girl," Helen stated, nodding at the soldiers who also lowered their weapons.

"Did you do this?" Jenny demanded, gesturing at Abby's lifeless form. "Did you shoot her?"

Helen's smile faltered slightly as she looked around at Abby.

"It was an accident; I thought she was one of them . . ."

"Bull!" Jenny spat.

Cutter threw his arms around Conner who had made to lunge at Helen, and with difficulty, he restrained him.

"Why on earth would I want to kill Abby?" Helen asked, sounding perplexed. "The girl has done nothing to me. If I were going to shoot anyone intentionally, surely it would be the woman who is with my husband? What does that tell you - ?"

"That you're a bad shot!" Jenny answered with loathing.

As Cutter looked at the woman he had once been in love with - that he had married, and once chosen to be with for the rest on his life - he found himself marveling at how it had all come to this. Helen showed no remorse for her actions; from the way she was acting, it was as though she had just shot a clay pigeon.

"What's happened to you Helen?" Cutter said before he could stop himself.

She looked at him coldly for a moment before answering.

"Me? What has happened to you?" she replied, looking him up and down. "You used to be so passionate . . ."

"I draw the line at murdering innocent young girls!" Cutter spat, his temper erupting. _How had she turned into this?_

"It was an accident," Helen repeated, as though that settled the matter.

"Are you responsible for all of this?" he demanded over Conner's profanities, still struggling to restrain him. "Did you do all of this?"

"No," Helen replied coolly. "I think you're giving me a little too much credit - "

"You can control the anomalies!" Jenny interjected.

"And apparently clone dead men," Cutter added, surveying the soldiers who were observing the conversation with impassive looks on their identical faces.

"Yes, but I can't control the Creatures; not without the chip anyway. And have you seen any of them with chips?"

"Well if you can control the anomalies, why haven't you done anything to fix this?" Cutter demanded, pushing Conner backwards.

"Oh you misunderstand me," she smirked. "Just because I'm not responsible doesn't mean that I'm not thrilled with the outcome. I mean, a world with no humans? Once I've got rid of all the Predators, it'll leave room for other species to grow and evolve in peace."

Everyone gapped at her, shocked that her attitude to the genocide of mankind was so positive; even Conner stopped struggling to stare at her in disgust.

"You can't be serious?" Cutter breathed eventually, knowing full well that she was.

"Mankind is a disease on this planet Nick . . . and I consider myself the cure."

"So there are no people alive at all?" Jenny demanded.

Helen shrugged.

"Some perhaps," she answered. "They've probably formed survivor colones. But I doubt they'll live long . . . the Predators will find them eventually. There are thousands of them and they're breeding. They've managed to wipe out most other countries too; I didn't know this before, but they are incredible swimmers - "

"And you're just going to let all of this happen?" Cutter growled.

"Why try and stop the inevitable?" she replied. "That's always been your problem Nick . . Mr _Fix-it_ . . . I bet you haven't even considered the fact that this is our destiny? To step aside and let other species take over and try and salvage a planet that we've all but destroyed . . ."

As she rambled on about her self indulgent crap, Cutter's gaze was drawn to the mustard-coloured back-pack she wore. . . suddenly an idea struck him . . . but how could he do it?

" . . . our intelligence is our downfall," Helen continued wistfully."We think we can do whatever we want and screw the consequences . . ."

From the side of the road through the thick trees, Cutter suddenly sensed that something was watching them; he could feel the eyes boring into them . . . oh God they had fallen into an ambush! Although maybe it would give Helen the distraction that he needed . . . hopefully, they would make it out alive; his grip tightened on his gun as his heartbeat increased to an exponential rate.

No body else seemed to have picked up on it, however.

Helen was still babbling on, completely unaware.

Jenny was merely inches in front of him, slightly to his right. Under the cover of Helen's voice, he hissed to her, moving his lips as little as possible;

"When I say run . . . we run . . . keep your gun up . . ."

He saw her head turn slightly towards him and she nodded her head a fraction of an inch before turning her attention back to Helen.

" . . . so that's why I've got to do this Nick," Helen finished apologetically. "I wish I didn't have to kill you too, but needs must."

"I - what?" Cutter said, for a moment forgetting his plan. "What are you talking about?"

"You didn't think I was just going to let you walk off did you? I didn't know that you were alive anyway, but now that you are . . . I can't risk leaving you. Just think of it as a favour; better die by a bullet than be ripped apart by a Predator."

"I thought you said you shot Abby by accident?" Cutter said, starting to panic - if they didn't strike soon, they'd be dead . . .

"I did, but that doesn't change anything."

"Helen, I know we've had our differences, but do you really want to kill me?" Cutter asked in disbelief.

"I'm sorry Nick," she said, sounding surprisingly genuine. "I wish there was another way . . ."

She raised her gun to him, tears glimmering in her eyes as she did so. Jenny's gun flew back into the air, aiming at Helen's head.

"Don't you dare," Jenny shouted.

Out of the corner of his eye, Cutter saw something move in the bushes . . . _come on_ . . . _come on_ . . .

"Don't worry Jenny, you'll get your turn too," Helen said coldly, gesturing at her soldiers to raise their weapons.

It was a stale mate. If Helen pulled the trigger, Jenny would shoot her, but if she ordered her soldiers to kill Jenny, she may involuntarily pul the trigger anyway. Perhaps that's why she paused.

There was a crashing sound behind the soldiers; everyone looked around, momentarily forgetting their stand off.

To Cutter's complete shock, the Columbian Mammoth that they had been keeping in the ARC burst through the shrubbery . . . he had been expecting the Predators, and couldn't help but feel a shooting sense of relief at the alternative; in all that had happened, he had completely forgotten about the gigantic Mammoth. However, it did not look in the best of moods as it charged towards them. The soldier's guns flew up towards it, as did Jenny and Helen's; the latter throwing her back-pack on the ground as she did so, the better to aim.

_Yes!_ thought Cutter.

While she was distracted, Cutter lunged forward and grabbed the bag, flinging it over his shoulder. He grasped Jenny's arm and dragged her away; flinging her ahead of him.

"Run!" he yelled, both to Conner and Jenny, but his voice was drowned out by the noise of the Mammoth, the shouts of the soldiers and gunshots.

"I can't leave Abby!" Conner cried.

"We've got to! Just trust me!" Cutter exclaimed, pushing them both ahead.

They all sprinted down the road, Cutter hoping desperately that Helen was to busy to notice them. However, bullets flew passed them suddenly, telling them that she had spotted them. Both Jenny and Cutter turned their guns around and fired back as they ran, missing their targets by inches. Helen looked as though she was about to follow them, but in a split second, she was knocked to the ground violently by one of the Mammoths tusks and moved no more. Whether she was dead or not, Cutter didn't know or care. All he cared about was getting Jenny and Conner back to the relative safety of the house.

They kept sprinting for a long time in silence, only slowing down when they were sure nothing was following them. Beside him, Cutter was aware that Jenny was limping; the amount of running she had done had probably been too much for her still-sensitive ankle. She didn't complain, and when Cutter put his arm around her waist to help her, she shrugged him off, mumbling something about being fine.

The house came into view and they hurried inside without a word. They walked into the kitchen numbly, to be greeted by Lester's voice that was laced in irritation.

"Well it's about time - " he began, holding the crying baby out to them, but he stopped short, his eyes widening as he took in Jenny's bloodied appearance.

"What happened?" Becker demanded, rushing up to Jenny, obviously thinking that the blood was hers.

Jenny, however, didn't reply; she didn't look capable of speaking. She shrugged off Becker's fussing with a shake of her head, and turned around to walk up the stairs. Conner slumped into one of the kitchen chairs and began sobbing into his arms. Becker and Lester were looking to Cutter for an explanation, appearing completely dumb-founded.

"Abby's dead," he said bluntly, aware that Conner started crying harder at his words. "Helen's doing. And she's after us too. So Becker, make sure that the house is secure. I'll be back in a moment," he finished, setting the back-pack down and following Jenny up the stairs without another word.

The plan could wait.

This was more important for the time being.

He heard the shower running, so guessed that Jenny was in the bathroom. He went in without knocking; after all, it wouldn't exactly be the first time he'd seen her with no clothes on. However, when he entered, he saw that she was in the shower fully dressed. She was scrubbing the blood off her body in an obsessive-compulsive manner; the tiles surrounding the shower were splattered red.

"Jenny?" he said gently, approaching her slowly.

She looked up blankly, barely aware of his presence. Then she continued to scrub her arm; the area had already turned an irritated shade of red.

"Stop," he said, climbing in the open shower next to her, not caring that he was soaked in seconds.

She didn't listen, so he grabbed her wrists and held them tightly.

"Stop," he repeated as gently as possible.

Her face screwed up as fresh sobs took over her.

"It's my fault," she cried, trembling violently under Cutter grip.

He put his arms around her and pulled her into a tight hug. Her shoulder's shook, and she seemed to be struggling to stay standing.

"I killed her," she sobbed, clutching his saturated top.

"No you didn't," Cutter repeated firmly. "It wasn't your fault . . . you didn't know that was going to happen."

"If I hadn't had asked her to come with me, none of this would have happened," she continued, her words barely audible over her gasps as she tried to steady her breath.

He could find no words to comfort her . . . nothing he could say would make her believe any different; if he was in her position, he knew that he would feel the same.

All he could do was hold her while she cried.

**Sorry it's rather depressing, but they wouldn't exactly be laughing or joking after losing another team member :(**

**I still hope everyone is enjoying the story. Let me know :D**

**I will try and update again as soon as I can x**


	14. A long shot

Chapter 14

After she had composed herself as much as she could manage, she disentangled herself from Cutter's embrace and looked up at him; he was soaked through - his blonde hair plastered to his forehead. His eyes stared back at her, full of sadness and pity - pity that was not needed and certainly not wanted; she didn't deserve it. It would be easier if he would have screamed at her. But instead his understanding and patience . . . it was unbearable. She mumbled something about changing her clothes and left him still in the shower. She made her way to the bedroom they had been sharing; her clothes squelching as she went. After rummaging through a wardrobe full of women's clothes (presumably the mother of the baby, but Jenny had lost all dignity at this point, so taking clothes off the dead didn't bother her one bit), she peeled her now see-through and still blood-stained shirt off and pulled a plain black top on, coupled with a pair of jeans that fitted snugly enough. Not wanting to hurry downstairs at the fear of all those accusing eyes (presumably Lester and Becker had been updated now), she perched on the edge of the unmade bed, trying to ignore all the thoughts and images that whirled around her mind.

But it was futile.

As soon as Abby's face popped up in her thoughts, Jenny broke down; burying her face in her hands. She leaned forwards as she sobbed quietly; a terrible clenching feeling taking over her stomach that seemed intent on pulling her to the ground. She sunk to the floor, unable to fight it any longer . . .

_Why did she have to die, _she thought to herself over and over again. _Why couldn't it have been me instead . . ._

This was a million times worse than the thought that her family was dead, and for a second, Jenny couldn't fathom why. And then she reasoned that it was because with them, denial had kept her going. At least she had not seen them brought down like she had with Abby; at least she hadn't held them in her arms like Abby - watched the life leave her body whilst she just sat there, powerless to stop it.

At least with her family, it wasn't her fault.

The same couldn't be said for Abby, no matter how Cutter tried to spin it. However, she couldn't forget those words he had said to her after it had happened: _'how could you be so stupid'_ . . . he blamed her too; he just loved her too much to say it, apart from that slip up in a moment of grief. How on earth could she ever face them downstairs? How could she ever face Conner again? The things he had said to her - although true - were like a knife to the heart. She had no business going down there and trying to be one of the team again; she had lost that right when she had lost Abby.

However, a few minutes later (or it could have been hours; Jenny had lost count), footsteps could be heard coming up the stairs. The door opened and Cutter poked his head around. If he was surprised to see her on the floor, he didn't show it. He entered the room fully, and Jenny was vaguely aware that he had also changed his clothes, although where he had gotten them from, she had no idea. He was also holding the baby in his arms, who was clutching onto a handful of his top with her little hand.

"She needs her bottle," Cutter explained softly, approaching her slowly. "I thought you'd like to do it?"

Jenny didn't reply and looked away; the knot of happiness that had flared up at the site of the baby had dissipated as fast as it had come - she didn't want the responsibility of another life on her; she had had that with Abby, and look how that had turned out. However, Cutter didn't seem to take the hint, and placed the baby in her arms with one swift motion.

"Cutter - "

"Just try it," he cut in, handing her a warm bottle. "It might make you feel a bit better."

Jenny looked down at the baby, who was happily staring back at her in anticipation of a feed. Her beautiful blue eyes were wide and bright in recognition. But Jenny didn't want this - all she wanted was to be alone and not have to think about anything. She stood up, balancing the baby with difficulty, and handed her back to Cutter.

"I'm sorry I can't," she gulped, before barging past him and out the door.

She needed to sever the reluctant bond that she had formed with the little girl, because if she was looking after her, the chances were that something would happen to her; and Jenny couldn't handle that responsibility at the moment. She didn't go downstairs, but instead re-entered the bathroom and perched on the side of the bath. She heard Cutter make his way slowly back downstairs, obviously knowing her well enough not to follow.

A while later, the bathroom was beginning to darken, and Jenny was sitting on the floor with her back leaning against the locked door. She was beginning to doze with her head on her door, lack of sleep finally taking hold of her - images of Abby clouding her mind as she drifted in between sleeping and waking.

A loud banging on the door made her jolt violently in shock.

"Jenny, open this door right now, this is ridiculous!" Lester's voice barked.

As the shock dissipated, Jenny scampered up and unbolted the door, opening it reluctantly.

She was greeted with Lester's angry face. Without invitation, he barged past and turned to her.

"So this is your plan, is it?" he asked coldly. "Live out the rest of your days in here?"

"So what if it is?" she answered quietly, unable to look him in the eye.

"Apart from being impractical seeing as there are four other people living in here that might need to use the bathroom facilities at some point," he continued, "we need your input downstairs."

"I'm sure you'll manage," she snapped, crossing her arms and leaning back on the door.

"This isn't you," he barked, making her jump slightly. "This pathetic, weak woman; you're not the person I employed."

Jenny looked up at him in disbelief. What the hell did he expect? That she should just shrug off what's happened and continue like nothings happened? But before she could form a reply, his expression seemed to soften slightly in a very un-Lester way.

"No one blames you," he said quietly.

"Conner does," Jenny pointed out truthfully.

"Conner's grieving," he retorted.

Jenny fought back the selfish urge she had to snap _'so am I!' _with great difficulty; instead choosing to remain silent.

"Look," he continued as softly as his condescending tone allowed. "You're doing no one any good up here. This isn't going to bring her back. But Cutter's got an idea of what might."

Jenny's head snapped up at these words, spoken so casually.

"What?" she demanded.

"Well you'll have to come down and see won't you?" he answered cryptically as he walked past her.

After a moments pause, she reluctantly followed, thinking it was better to venture into the lion's den than stay in the safety and be ignorant.

She followed Lester back down into the kitchen and when she entered, three pairs of eyes snapped up at her; two friendly, and one not so friendly. Of course, that was Conner's. He looked up at her with swollen, bloodshot eyes, but when her gaze met his, he averted his eyes as though he was unable to stomach looking at her. Ignoring the uncomfortable knot that was tightening in her stomach, Jenny flopped down in a chair next to Cutter and the baby, waiting for Conner to start again. However, he remained silent; obviously he had been ordered not to have another go, but by the look of him, he had agreed very reluctantly. Without a word, Cutter handed her the baby again, and before she could protest, he began speaking.

"So now that we're all here . . . " he spoke to the room.

The baby snuggled sleepily into Jenny's chest, and in spite of herself, she took that annoyingly cute baby smell that emanated constantly from the little girls hair. She sighed inwardly - apparently it was going to be impossible to distance herself from her.

" . . . I can show you what I've found," Cutter continued, rummaging through a back-pack that Jenny had noticed him stealing from Helen.

Eventually, he pulled out a long, wide silvery device that she had never seen before. It had a screen on it that was blank at the moment, and a red number pad underneath it. The room stared at it, all looking as nonplus as Jenny was.

"What is it?" Becker asked as he leaned against the opposite wall.

"This . . ." Cutter began, sounding excited. " . . . this is what I think Helen uses to open anomalies."

Everyone's eyes widened, and Jenny felt a flurry of hope stir in her.

"And that's how we're going to save Abby?" Conner croaked, his face alert.

"If all goes to plan, it won't be just Abby we're saving," Cutter answered, replacing the device in the bag. "But I need you to do something."

"What? Anything!" Conner said urgently.

"You know that device you were talking about building?"

"The one to seal the anomalies?" Conner asked, looking confused. "Why would we need that?"

"Just trust me, we do . . . can you build it?"

"It might take me a while," Conner answered, scratching his head. "But yeah, I reckon I could . . ."

"Why, what are we going to do?" Jenny demanded, speaking for the first time.

"We are going to go back in time and seal the anomaly before the Predators come through," Cutter replied casually, as though it was the easiest thing in the world to do. "And if we succeed, it'll be like none of this has ever happened."

Everyone exchanged half-confused, half-excited looks.

Conner constantly had himself locked in the downstairs front room with all the equipment and parts he had pilfered from the destroyed ARC, feverishly trying to put together a device that would close the anomalies. Jenny didn't disturb him, even though she had so many things to say to him that burned inside her. She had a feeling that anything she said would not be well received at the moment. Becker spent all his time making sure everyone was quiet, and searching every nook and cranny of the house for a weak point of entry that either a Predator or Helen could use. Lester mostly milled around the kitchen, his brow furrowed as he was absorbed in deep thought. Cutter was constantly fiddling with the device that would apparently gain them entry into the past; he never flicked the switch however, and when Jenny asked him why, he replied that he didn't want to draw unwanted attention to them. He didn't mention her name, but Jenny guessed he meant Helen. She privately agreed; it was highly likely that Helen had an anomaly detector with her, and if they suddenly opened one in the house, they would make themselves a sitting target.

Jenny, despite her previous thoughts on the matter, spent all of her time taking care of the baby. She was so surprised how many things came naturally to her; she had never wanted to be a mother, or had never liked associating with kids in general, but now it seemed different. Perhaps it was just because of the situation they were in.

One day, Jenny was changing the baby's nappy in her room for the umpteenth time. Just before she did the baby-grow back up, she blew a raspberry on her stomach, causing the little girl to chuckle, her face lighting up wonderfully.

"Seems like you're over you're baby eversion," Cutter said in an amused voice.

Jenny looked around to see him smiling as he entered, taking a seat on the bed next to them.

"Not quiet," Jenny replied, rather untruthfully. "They're still more trouble than there worth."

"The best things always are," he said wisely.

Jenny sighed before replying.

"Don't get me wrong, I've completely shocked myself. I have no idea where this has all come from."

"Well you're a woman of a certain age . . . you're biological clock must be ticking by now," Cutter replied, his eyes twinkling.

"Oy!" Jenny scoffed, hitting him with a pillow. "Less of the 'woman of a certain age' thing. I'm only young, I'll have you know."

"So you do want kids than?" Cutter probed.

Jenny paused. She wasn't a fool as to why he was asking, but she was unsure of whether she could give him the answer he was hoping for.

"I want this one," she answered eventually, busying herself with snapping the buttons of the baby-grow back into place.

She could sense Cutter hesitating beside her.

"You can't have this one Jenny; if we go back and change everything she'll be back with her parents . . . were she belongs," Cutter said gently as though he was talking to a frail mental patient.

"I know that," Jenny answered impatiently. "It's just that," she looked up at him, "From the moment I held her . . . that was it; she had me . . ."

"It'll be the same with our child as well," Cutter said, before blushing slightly and clearing his throat. "Well when I say 'our's', I don't mean our's, I just meant . . . well we don't have to have any kids . . . I know it's too soon to be thinking about things like that . . . and I'm not saying that if you want them that you have to have them with me . . . I was just saying . . ."

"Nick it's alright," she interrupted, taking pity on his rambling. "I know what you meant."

Later on in bed, Jenny rolled over to face away from Cutter. The baby was fast asleep, snoozing in her Moses basket; they never did sort that cot out for her . . . she felt Cutter graze her hip as he put his arm around her and pulled her into a hug.

"Do you think this will work?" Jenny whispered to him.

He didn't ask what she was talking about - it was obvious, as it was the main thing on all their minds.

"I hope so," he whispered back, kissing her shoulder.

It wasn't the most comforting answer, but Jenny supposed it was as honest an answer as he could give her. She shut her eyes and sighed inwardly as she allowed herself to enjoy his touch.

"Kids wouldn't be so bad," she stated with a smile, picking up on their earlier conversation; out-of-the-blue for even herself.

She felt his arm around her stiffen slightly at her words, before he chuckled slightly and tightened his grip, squeezing her in obvious joy. It was a small gesture to offer him, but the thought of what life possibly awaited them if they could manage to pull this plan off seemed to cheer him slightly.

**Sorry about the fluff, but what's a Nick and Jenny story with out a li'l bit of romance!**

**This will be my last update for a while as exams are on top of me. A little tip - never do a science degree!**

**Just to point out, I do separate the switches between scenes with stars but they seem to disappear when I upload the file :S sorry about that, I hope it all still makes sense (I've tried to sort it out in this chapter)!**

**Anyway, enough rambling, hope you're all not too bored with the read - it will come to an end eventually I promise.**

**Nikki x**


	15. Too easy

**I'm very sorry about the lack of updates but exams are over now and I am Freeeeeeee! Free I say! :) so I can finally finish this story! Yey!**

Chapter 15

It was dawn on the second week after the plan had been formulated. Cutter lay in bed with his arm around Jenny as the soft light crept in through the gaps in the curtains and shone on them, lulling them into a false sense of security that all was well. The baby was fast asleep, as was everyone else in the house, except Conner, who would barely sleep or eat in his determination to get the Anomaly Closing Mechanism finished, despite the protests from Cutter that if he collapsed from exhaustion, there would be no-one to finish his work. Cutter could sense that Jenny was awake next to him and kissed her bare shoulder tenderly, to which she sighed in a contented manner.

"Is it selfish that I can feel this happy when something this horrific has happened?" she whispered.

"Of course not," Cutter replied quietly. "We're going to make everything okay again. I promise."

She turned around to face him.

"But what if it doesn't work?"

"It will. _It will,"_ he said in the most reassuring voice he could muster."We just need to be patient."

She nodded and offered him a weak smile.

They started chatting quietly about there past's to take there mind off of things. Passing the time was rather difficult in this place; there was nothing to do except sit around and contemplate the possible ramifications of their plan and scrutinize it until they had discovered a dozen gapping holes. If Cutter hadn't have had Jenny with him, he would have cracked up a long time ago. They filled the time with getting to know each other, which was enjoyable. Cutter had always regretted not asking Claudia more about her life, and was determined he wouldn't make the same mistake with Jenny.

"So where did you meet Mark then?" he whispered as he traced lazy circles on her arm.

"It was four years ago, and I was on a work night out with my friends in my old job," Jenny answered slowly as she obviously strained to remember the details. "And he came up to me and asked if I wanted a drink - "

"And what did you say?"

"I said no at first," she continued with a smile. "Then he started on me saying I was a snob and that I thought I was too good for him."

"And then what?"

"And then I agreed to a drink," she shrugged.

"So let me get this straight," Cutter chuckled, "he asked you out and you said no, and then he was horrible to you and you said yes?"

"Yes."

"That's a little bit messed up."

"Well I've never been very good at relationships. It's probably because of the sterling example my parents set for me."

"Why did you cheat on him?" Cutter asked, out-of-the blue for even himself.

She turned around and looked at him.

"Nick, I was very confused . . . and I was very unhappy," she explained gently.

"So everyone who's not happy in a relationship should cheat?"

"No, of course not," she sighed. "But he wasn't exactly faithful either."

Cutter nodded and dropped the subject reluctantly. If he was honest, he had been a bit touchy about that revelation since they had played that stupid drinking game; after all, he had been cheated on by Helen and he hadn't much cared for it. It had made him feel stupid; she had abused his trust and worse still, she had ruined his friendship with Stephen that couldn't be repaired before it was too late. There was no way he wanted to go into another relationship with a cheat. But he knew deep down that Jenny was nothing like Helen in that respect; she was kind, caring, incredibly loyal and certainly not a manipulative sociopath like Helen.

"So," Jenny said, changing the subject. "How did you and Helen meet?"

Cutter had began to explain how he had been answering a question about Evolutionary Zoology in a University lecture as a student when Helen had interrupted and argued with his answer when footsteps could be heard thundering up the stairs. The door burst open and Conner charged in wearing a manically excited expression. Jenny shrieked and pulled the covers to her chin.

"Conner, what?" Cutter asked, irritated.

"I've finished it!" Conner gasped; he had bags under his eyes and a great amount of stubble on his face, but he looked happier than he had done since they had lost Abby.

Cutter straightened up immediately, excitement pulsing through his body.

"Are you sure?" Jenny asked Conner uncertainly.

"Yes," Conner nodded defiantly. "I'd stake my life on it."

Cutter and Jenny looked at each other, and Cutter noticed that his feelings of mingled dread and anticipation were mirrored in her face.

"Alright then," he said finally. "Lets go."

* * *

"No way!"

"Nick - " Jenny began, but he cut her off.

"No," he snapped, as he helped Conner load the Closing Mechanism into the pram they had decided to use as a mode of transporting it. "You're staying here and watching the baby."

"James can do that - "

"Yes, James _could_ do that," Lester interjected hopefully, sounding like he'd rather stay in the relative safety of the house than venture outside.

"For the last time, you're not coming," Cutter argued, as though that was the end of the conversation.

"Why, because I'm the _woman? _" Jenny huffed, crossing her arms.

"No . . ." Cutter answered unconvincingly.

But Jenny had had enough of this . . . she had more experience with guns than the rest of them put together (with the exception of Becker of course), and she made a point of saying this.

"You could be Wonder Woman for all I care, you're still not coming," Cutter retorted.

"Right, well, we can do it my way," Jenny snapped, with her hands on her hips in the bossiest voice she could muster. "Or I can just follow you alone and risk getting attacked."

"And leave the baby unprotected? Great plan Jenny," Cutter sniggered infuriatingly.

"Becker, what do you think?" Jenny demanded; the soldier's head snapped up.

"Don't get me involved in your domestic," he replied quietly.

"No go on . . . in your professional opinion, who would you take; me or James?"

"Er . . ." Becker shifted uncomfortably, glancing between Jenny and Cutter who were both waiting for his answer with crossed arms. "Well . . . I'd take the most experienced fighter. Which would be Jenny."

"I have no objection to that," Lester added, sitting down smugly on one of the kitchen chairs.

"Ha!" Jenny said triumphantly to Cutter, who was looking daggers at Becker.

* * *

Jenny stored her gun in her belt as they all moved towards the door quietly. She turned to Lester who was holding the baby out in front of him like she was a ticking time bomb.

"You be good," Jenny said to her, taking the little girls hand, unable to stop a lump forming in her throat.

She knew this was going to be hard; she didn't want to leave her at all. But it's not like she could take her with them; it was too dangerous. And Jenny had to go. She had to play a part in getting Abby back, not to mention the whole of humanity.

"Jenny?" Cutter whispered with his hand on her lower back. "Come on."

He led her away through the door, and it was all Jenny could do to stop tears falling from her eyes. She was never going to see the baby again. But she wouldn't allow herself to show any emotion; they had only allowed her to go with them begrudgingly and crying all the way there wasn't exactly proving them wrong. So she dragged her thoughts away from the little girl and focused them on more pressing matters. As she looked around the deserted outside world, it never ceased to amaze her how eery it was; not one other living person out there. Except Helen, of course, but that was debatable. After all, the last time they had seen her, she was in a rather compromising position with a Mammoth. She might very well be dead. Jenny tried not to let her mind wonder to the fact that she certainly hoped she was, as it would appear that she was merely insecure about her and Nick's past. Which was rubbish of course. Well sort of. Jenny mostly detested the woman because of her actions; after all, she had tried to kill them at least twice already.

A familiar creepy silence pressed in on them as they walked as quietly as humanly possible towards the ARC; it wasn't far. Cutter and Conner struggled to push the baby's pram full of equipment, and Becker walked close behind them, his gun poised and ready. Every slight movement around them such as the rustling of the wind through the trees made him jump and aim.

"Will you stop that!" Jenny hissed at him quietly after the third time. "You're making me nervous!"

They approached the ARC entrance and, as agreed, they found a small nook at the side of the building. They stopped, all looking at Cutter who had pulled out the Anomaly Opening Device. He punched in some information (presumably the time they wanted to go back to) with a slightly trembling hand, and pointed it out in front of him. They all watched in awe as an anomaly burst out of the device and formed in front of them. They all looked at it for a second; Jenny had an unsettling feeling in the pit of her stomach . . . this all felt a little bit too easy . . .

"Right," said Cutter, regaining his wits. "Becker, you stay and guard the anomaly from here; don't let anything through no matter what."

Becker nodded glumly and cocked his gun indicating that he was up to the task.

"Ready?" Cutter added to Conner and Jenny, who both nodded. "Let's go."

Conner and Cutter pushed the Anomaly Locking Mechanism through first, and Jenny followed. Going through an anomaly was the strangest sensation Jenny had ever experienced; it felt as though she was walking through a waterfall, but without getting wet. As soon as they emerged on the other side, they all looked around in wonder; they could hear traffic rumbling past in the distance, and hear passers-by chatting away to each other . . . this was so strange! For a second, they all actually forgot what they had came back to do as they listened to the sounds of their world. Jenny had never fully appreciated the noise of morning rush hour before.

They peered around the corner to where they knew the anomaly the Future Predators pour out of was about to appear.

"How are we going to do this without the public seeing?" Jenny asked in a hushed voice.

"Don't worry about what they see; at least they'll be alive to see it," Cutter replied. "And anyway, I'm sure you'll be able to spin them a line."

"Oh great, no pressure then," Jenny muttered.

"I think we should go and get the Locking Mechanism set up over there before the earthquake hits," Conner interjected.

Cutter and Conner busied themselves with unloading the pram and getting everything set up, whilst Jenny paced beside them . . . something really didn't feel right . . .

"Crap," Conner burst out.

"What?" demanded Jenny nervously, bending over to take a closer look.

"One of the wires has come loose," he replied, rubbing his hand over his forehead in worry.

"Can you fix it?" Cutter asked in a strained voice.

"Just give me a minute . . ." Conner said. "Cutter, just hold that in place for me - "

From the corner of Jenny's eye, she saw something move suddenly behind the corner they had just came from. Without a word to Conner and Cutter, she walked towards it unnoticed to see what it was . . . maybe she was imagining things? As she rounded the corner, something metallic glinted in the sunlight to her left. Before she had even thought about it, she turned and launched herself at the figure and threw her against the wall.

Helen.

The force of the impact had caused Helen to drop her gun. Jenny struggled to keep her against the wall; the woman was incredibly strong.

"How did you get through?" Jenny demanded as she tried and failed to reach for her own gun; she couldn't get it without letting go of Helen.

"Your soldier boy is a bit preoccupied at the moment," Helen sniggered, her eyes looking manic - she had truly unraveled in the head.

For a second, Jenny considered calling for Cutter to help her, but Conner needed him to help lock the anomaly; it was a two man operation. As she pondered this, however, a blow came hard and fast as Helen head butted her. Jenny fell backwards and slammed to the ground with the force of it, involuntarily screaming in pain and clutching her forehead. In a split second, Helen was on top of her, all guns forgotten, and her hands were around Jenny's throat. Struggling with all her mite, Jenny just didn't have the strength to push her off, and was fighting to stay conscious as her vision started to fog. In one last attempt, and costing her all the effort in the world, Jenny reached up and grabbed Helen's hair tight, pulling it to the side and rolling her off into the floor next to her. Jenny forced herself to get up, despite the sudden dizziness that took hold of her, and she again launched at Helen and started punching her.

Despite being a privately educated girl, Jenny had gotten into her fair share of fights in school, and had always won. Helen, however, was completely different. She fought like a wild cat; she clawed at Jenny's arms, face and neck, leaving deep gashes. However, Jenny didn't let her go, and used all her weight to keep her pinned to the ground, trying to restrain the woman's wrists and keep of punching her at the same time. All of a sudden, the ground beneath them began to shake, signaling the arrival of the infamous anomaly. Jenny was momentarily distracted, and Helen pulled one of her hands free and reached downwards.

It was only when Jenny felt a sharp pain in her thigh that she realised the woman had pulled out some sort of dart and stabbed her with it.

In shock, Jenny got off her, her feet unsteady on the shaking ground. She reached down and pulled the dart out of her thigh and let it drop to the floor, but it was no good; her leg already felt dead, and she was aware that a painful numb feeling was spreading through her entire body. She staggered over to the wall to try and keep herself upright, but she felt her back sliding down it as she collapsed. Dazed, she looked up to see Helen pointing a gun at her, a smirk across her face. Jenny gritted her teeth and waited for the bullet . . . this was it . . .

* * *

**Tehehe cliffhanger :) let me no your thoughts!**

**By the way, on a side note, I'm dying to know what everyone's opinion is on the upcoming series of primeval? With two new team members and no Lucy Brown and Douglas Henshall? Not to mention no Laila Rouass (which I have no idea how they're going to explain)?**


	16. Back to the future

Chapter 16

Cutter looked up from the Locking Mechanism as Conner made the final adjustments to the wires. But Jenny was nowhere to be seen. Puzzled, he got to his feet and looked around properly . . . where was she? He opened his mouth, about to ask Conner if he had seen her walk away, but an earsplitting painful-sounding scream cut into the silence followed by a loud thump. Fear bolted through Cutter as he realised that it was Jenny. Conner leapt to his feet also, but Cutter told him to stay with the Locking Mechanism as he ran off towards the sound. As he went, the ground started to tremble beneath his feet, knocking him off his balance slightly. He sincerely hoped that Conner would be able to closed the anomaly by himself as it they had merely a few seconds before it appeared . . .

He rounded the corner, and was shocked to see Jenny sliding down the wall as though losing consciousness, and Helen standing over her with her gun poised. Without making a noise, Cutter pulled out his gun and aimed it at Helen . . . but he couldn't bring himself to pull the trigger. He just couldn't. Instead . . .

"Helen?" he shouted.

She turned, but before she could strike, Cutter hit her over the head with his gun, knocking her out cold with one blow. Despite knowing he had no choice, he still felt a twang of guilt as he replaced his gun in his belt; he would never usually hurt a woman, even if it was completely justified . . . he just didn't have it in him.

He hurried over to Jenny, who was shaking uncontrollably, and could barely keep her eyes open. He was confused until he spotted a tranquilizer dart on the floor, and realisation washed over him; Helen had drugged her.

"Jenny?" he said clearly, checking her pupils for a reaction, and noticing that she had deep scratches all over her pale skin.

"Cutter . . . go," she said faintly; so faintly that he nearly missed it.

"No, I'm not leaving you like this," he insisted, shaking his head.

"Go and help Conner . . . I'll be fine," she said in a stronger voice that had a trace of bossiness in it. "Now."

Cutter hovered in between standing and sitting, desperately not wanting to abandon her, until he heard Conner calling him.

He had to go.

He quickly pulled his jacket off and made a make-shift pillow on the floor. Gently, he lowered her head onto it as she lost consciousness completely.

"I'll be back in a minute," she said to her, although he doubted she could hear him now.

Before he went, he took the Helen's gun incase she woke up before he got back. Trying not to think about the possibility that Helen might have put a lethal dose in the dart, Cutter hurried back to Conner, feeling disgusted in himself for leaving Jenny. Hopefully, Helen would remain out of the count so that she was in no immediate danger. The earthquake had stopped, and about five feet in front of Conner, the crater with the anomaly in it had formed. To Cutter's recollection, their past selves didn't go outside immediately, so they still had some time.

"What are you waiting for! Lock it!" Cutter yelled as he sprinted over to Conner.

The student pushed the button which caused a visible wave of electricity to project from the device towards the anomaly, sealing it into a tight floating sphere. How they were going to explain this to the public, Cutter had no idea; that was there past selves problem. Right now, they had to get out of the way incase they were seen by . . . well . . . themselves.

"Conner, c'mon lets go!" Cutter shouted.

"But what about the Locking Mechanism?" Conner argued.

"Leave it! There isn't time!" Cutter replied, pulling his arm to encourage him to run. "I'm sure your past self will find it."

They both sprinted back to the other anomaly site. Jenny was still lying slumped against his jacket . . . but Helen was nowhere to be seen.

"What the - ?" Conner began, looking shocked at the site of Jenny unconscious.

"Just help me with her!" Cutter demanded, panicking that they wouldn't make it back through the anomaly in time - there couldn't be two of them all in the same time zone for long . . . he was sure of it.

They hauled her up and into their arms and proceeded through the anomaly.

Then there was nothingness.

* * *

"Jenny? JENNY! Can you hear me?"

Someone was shaking her awake roughly. Her senses were returning to her slowly . . . she was on a cold floor . . . there was a hand on her face . . . she opened her eyes with difficulty and saw a woman's face hovering over her, looking concerned. She was very beautiful, with dark brown eyes and long, straight black hair.

"She's coming round," the woman said in a relieved voice, holding out her hand, which Jenny took, and she was hauled to her feet.

"Are you alright?" Lester's voice asked her.

Confused, Jenny looked around in alarm. She was in the ARC . . . in Lester's office to be precise. She looked down at herself and was shocked to see the clothes she was wearing; she had never seen them before . . . a tight pencil skirt with a slit down the back and a ruffled green blouse.

"You just passed out while you were speaking- " the woman was saying from beside her, but Jenny was barely listening; she was to busy scrutinizing her appearance.

She looked down at her arms, and observed that she had none of the scratches or wounds she had picked up since this nightmare had began. In shock, she patted her body all over with her hands; either she had slightly put on weight, or she had never lost it to begin with . . . had it worked? . . . were they back?

"Would you like us to give you some time alone with yourself?" Lester asked sarcastically as he watched her with a raised eyebrow.

The woman next to her smiled at the remark.

"Who are you?" Jenny asked her, finally finding her voice.

The woman exchanged a confused look with Lester, no longer laughing.

"I'm Sarah," she answered slowly, looking bemused.

"Sarah . . . ?" Jenny prompted.

"Sarah Paige," the woman continued, looking a tad offended.

"Have you been on the gin again Jenny?" Lester interjected, observing her with cold confusion. "She was your's and Cutter's hire a month ago . . . don't tell me you've got amnesia or something . . ."

"Sarah . . . right . . . of course," Jenny nodded, although she was a hundred percent sure she'd never seen that woman before in her life.

Glancing through the glass windows and down into the main room, Jenny saw something that stopped her heart, or more precisely, some one.

Abby.

She was walking casually across to the Detector. Jenny let out a excited scream, making Lester and the woman called Sarah jump. But she didn't care, all she cared about was getting to Abby and hugging the life out of her. She ran down the ramp as fast as her heels allowed, and flung herself at the girl without so much as a greeting. Abby looked surprised, but flattered, and patted Jenny on the back slightly.

"I missed you so much," Jenny informed her, pulling away to look at her, tears in her eyes.

"I've only been gone a few minutes," Abby laughed. "What's wrong?"

"She's been acting weird," Sarah said from behind her, having followed Jenny down to the main room.

"ABBY!" Conner's voice traveled over to them from the double doors.

Both Cutter and Conner were standing there in obvious shock, surveying Abby as though they had seen a ghost. Then suddenly, Conner strode over to her and pulled her into a kiss in front of everyone.

"Good God," Lester said, sounding disgusted as he walked down the ramp. "I take my eyes off you lot for one minute and this becomes a sex house."

Cutter walked up to Jenny, beaming. She felt relief flood through her at the sight of him.

"We did it," he breathed, pulling her into a hug. "We fixed it . . ."

"Did what?" Sarah asked, looking frustrated at being out of the loop.

Just then, Abby pulled away from her kiss with Conner and smacked him lightly over the head.

"What are you playing at!" she demanded; although in Jenny's opinion, she didn't look too cross.

"I just can't believe you're here," Conner breathed, looking at her with wide eyes.

"Right that's it!" Lester snapped at them all. "I'm arranging regular mental check ups for you all. I honestly don't know whether to sack you all or cart you off to the funny farm!"

"Will someone PLEASE tell we what is going on!" Sarah demanded, looking at each of them in turn. "What have I missed?"

Cutter looked at Sarah in confusion, but thankfully he had more sense than Jenny had had and didn't ask her who she was; Sarah would probably self-combust if someone asked her that again.

"Sorry, we're all just a bit . . . tired . . ." Jenny finished lamely, looking away so they couldn't tell she was lying.

"Tired? You've all gone completely bonkers!" Sarah pointed out.

* * *

It took a hell of a lot of lies and excuses to talk there way out of the tight spot Conner, Cutter and Jenny had gotten themselves into with there shock, relief and confusion at re-entering this world. Eventually, Sarah seemed satisfied at Jenny's excuse that when she fainted in Lester's office, she had banged her head and become confused for a little while.

"So are you still up for tomorrow night then?" Sarah asked her as they walked down the corridor to Jenny's office.

"Tomorrow?" Jenny repeated, again completely perplexed.

"Yeah, you said you needed a night out?" Sarah explained, sounding irritated that she couldn't remember.

"Well if that's what I said, then yes I'm still coming," Jenny replied; it seems that Sarah was not just a colleague, but a friend as well . . . great . . . how on earth was Jenny supposed to get to know her when she had supposedly known her for a month already?

"Right," Sarah said slowly, stopping outside Jenny's office. Her eyes were narrowed suspiciously. "Just . . . get a good night's sleep tonight okay?"

"Okay," Jenny nodded with a smile, before entering her office.

Everything looked the same as she had left it . . . this was so incredibly odd! She surveyed it for a while thinking that she should go and check on her family as soon as she could get away, only turning around when Cutter entered a while later, looking as happy as though it was Christmas day.

"Can you believe we did it?" he exclaimed.

"No, I can't actually," Jenny replied honestly; the happiness she had felt dissipating rapidly. "Why does no one else remember anything?"

"Because it was only me, you and Conner who went through the anomaly to change things."

"Well, why don't we remember anything from the last month here?"

"Because we're in a different evolutionary time line. Time must have caught up with itself and we've missed out on the memories because technically, we weren't here."

"I don't understand," Jenny sighed.

"I don't either to be honest," Cutter admitted. "I think it's just something we've got to accept."

"Where did you wake up?" Jenny asked him.

"With Conner in the gym. I have no idea what we were doing in there; maybe my alternative reality self now enjoys working out?" he joked, obviously trying to make her feel better.

It didn't wok however, and this must have shown on her face as he frowned.

"What's wrong? Aren't you happy?"

"I'm thrilled we fixed everything and got Abby back," she sighed. "But I've got a new colleague and she's apparently now one of my friends - "

"Are you talking about Sarah? Because she seems nice."

"Yeah, she does seem nice. But the problem is I don't know her, and that I'm never going to get to know her because I can't ask her questions about herself or anything incase I've already asked them. She already thinks I'm mad now."

"Well apparently I've started a research project with Sarah into mythical beasts that I have no memory of, and so will now have to probe the poor girl for information on a subject that I'm meant to be in charge of!"

Jenny gave him a sympathetic smile, and sighed. This was going to be hard. Then a sudden thought struck her.

"Becker - " she began, but Cutter interrupted her.

"Safe," he said. "I've just seen him. It looks like he doesn't remember anything about the other time line either."

Jenny nodded, relieved.

"Is this was what it was like when you came back from the anomaly before?" Jenny asked, talking about the anomaly that had apparently turned Claudia Brown into herself.

Cutter obviously knew what she was referring to.

"In a way," he began, looking down at the floor. "But imagine you coming back and finding that I have a different name, that I'm engaged to another woman, and have no memory of you. That was what it was like for me with you."

Jenny looked up at him, and for the first time, she actually believed him; she knew now how possible it was.

"I'm sorry," she said quietly.

"For what?"

"For not knowing you at first . . . for being with Mark . . . for everything," she finished.

"I wasn't your fault, it was mine. I changed something . . . I could have erased your life completely - "

"But you didn't," she soothed, putting her forehead on his chest and allowing him to pull her into a hug.

They held each other for a long time, only breaking apart when there was a knock at the door. Conner poked his head in.

"Sorry to interrupt," he said quickly, looking rather embarrassed. "But could I have a quick word, Jenny?"

"I'm must go and see if I can get Sarah to explain to me how I came up with the idea of mythological beasts mapping out anomalies throughout time without her getting me sectioned," Cutter said, excusing himself, giving Jenny's arm a slight squeeze before he left.

"What's the problem Conner?" Jenny asked kindly, perching on the edge of her desk.

"I just wanted to apologize," he began, looking rather sheepish.

"For what?"

"For the way I treated you after what happened to Abby," he explained, looking rather upset. "I was so horrible to you, and you didn't deserve it - "

Jenny shook her head, forcing him into silence.

"It was my fault. If I wouldn't have asked her to go with me, she would have never got shot."

"But that doesn't make it your fault; it was Helen's," Conner interrupted. "I just wanted to make sure that you weren't cross with me."

"Of course I'm not," Jenny replied truthfully. "We all said and did things . . . well lets just put it all behind us okay?"

He nodded enthusiastically.

"Because . . . well, I just wanted you to know that I think the world of you," he continued, blushing slightly.

"Well the feeling is entirely mutual," Jenny smiled.

Conner smiled and blushed heavier, before turning to leave.

"And Conner?" Jenny stopped him.

"Hmm?" he asked, turning back round.

"If you don't tell Abby how you feel about her soon, I will," she joked.

"I think she'd be flattered," Conner smirked. "But I really don't think you're her type to be honest."

Jenny chuckled to herself as he left with a smile.

* * *

**The next chapter is the last I'm afraid :( as always, let me know what you think!**


	17. The adjustment

Chapter 17

Jenny had made her excuses to Lester about leaving early, lying and saying that she had a headache from when she 'fainted', or rather when her alternate reality self had caught up with this version of herself. She was in her car, pulling up outside her parents magnificent house. Usually, this place filled Jenny with a mixture of dread and anger, but today was different. She rang the bell twice and when there was no answer, she started to bang on the door with the side of her fist. Before she knew it, she was slapping the palm of her hands on it in her desperation to see that they were alive and well. Eventually, the door was wrenched open, and her Mother's face appeared, looking livid.

"Have you lost your mind - ?" she began, before Jenny flung her arms around her neck and hugged her tight as relief clouded her mind.

"You're okay," she sighed, pulling away to see her Mother's expression was a mingle of disapproval and concern.

"Jennifer, are you drunk?" she accused, looking her daughter up and down.

"I wish," Jenny replied, still unable to believe she was standing in front of her. She thought she'd never seen her again. "Where's Dad?" she added. "And Chris?"

"Your brother is in University, as you very well know," her Mother replied in cold confusion. "And your Father is in the lounge -"

Without another word, Jenny ran past her and across the hall towards the living room. She spotting her dad behind a newspaper as usual.

"Dad!" she exclaimed, unable to adopt a more nonchalant attitude.

Her father looked up from his paper, his expression pleasantly surprised.

"What are you doing here Princess?" he asked as he put his paper down and stood up.

Jenny hugged him tight, unable to control the fresh wave of sobs that had engulfed her.

"I can't believe you're alive," she gasped before she could stop herself.

"What?" her Father asked, hugging her back.

"Jennifer, are you having some kind of break down?" her Mother asked from behind her.

"Just get the girl a drink Fliss," her dad said, looking concerned as he shepherded Jenny onto the couch. "Just sit and try and calm down."

Jenny sat down and tried to pull herself together, but it was so hard. Her relationship with her parents had always been strained at best, but the though that they had been killed in the alternative reality was unbearable. It had certainly made her re-think things; she had been given a second chance, and she needed to make more of an effort with them, despite how difficult her Mum was.

Her Mother handed her a glass of brandy to calm her nerves and took a seat next to her, and her Father leaned in from the chair.

"Are you in some kind of trouble Jennifer?" he asked gently.

Jenny hiccoughed, and took a sip of her drink to avoid answering.

"Are you pregnant?" her Mother asked urgently, making Jenny gag on her drink slightly. "Oh God, you are aren't you? Pregnant out of Wedlock - " she gasped, putting her hand to her mouth.

"It's not the end of the world - " her Dad soothed.

"No, it's not that I swear," Jenny insisted. "I just . . . I just had a really bad day at work and I just wanted to . . . wanted to see you," she finished, not meeting them in the eye.

She saw them both exchange an unconvinced look.

"Since when have you ever came to visit us voluntarily?" her Mother pointed out. "You usually avoid us like the Bubonic Plague - "

"Well that's going to change," Jenny informed them. "I'm going to be coming round more often and spending more time with you."

"You're not ill are you?" asked her Mother, looking genuinely worried. "You do look very pale."

"No everything's fine, I promise," she sighed. "I've just . . . had a bit of a wake up call that's all."

* * *

When Jenny left her parent's house an hour later feeling much better about herself, she had the intention of going back to the ARC and claiming that her head now felt fine and that she was well enough to return to work. But there was one final pit stop she had to make; it had been nagging at her since she had regained consciousness in Lester's office. She pulled up outside a horribly familiar house that brought back a million bad memories as soon as she set eyes on it. But she had to know. Having no idea what she was going to say, she walked up the path, and rang the bell, shuffling with nerves on the step as she waited for someone to answer.

A few moments later, a blonde-haired woman answered with a baby in her arms. Jenny's heart seemed to skip a beat as she looked down at the little girl she had raised for weeks . . .

"Yes, can I help you?" the woman asked kindly.

"Er . . . yes," Jenny said, thinking fast. 'Actually, no . . . I was looking for a James Lester, but I think I've got the wrong house," she lied, picking the first name that popped into her head.

"I'm sorry, no James Lester here," the woman smiled politely.

"Well thank you anyway," Jenny said, but as the woman made to close the door, before she could stop herself; "Is this your baby?" she asked, knowing she sounded rather nuts.

"Yes," the woman nodded, smiling down at the little girl. "My little Holly."

"Holly," Jenny repeated fondly. "That's a beautiful name."

"Thanks, I named her after my Mum," she said; apparently this woman was rather chatty and found Jenny's curiosity completely normal.

"Well she's lovely," Jenny said, looking at the baby who was gurgling away in her mother's arms. "She seem's . . . happy."

"Yes, she's a cheerful little thing."

"Well, I'm sorry to bother you," Jenny said, turning to leave.

"Do you have any children?" the woman asked kindly.

"No," Jenny replied with a forced smile. "Bye," she added with a small wave.

"Bye," the woman said cheerfully as she closed the door.

As Jenny made to return to her car, she felt relieved that the little girl was content; her mother was a tad odd, but nice and friendly, which is as good as can be expected, Jenny supposed. She could relax now; she was sure 'Holly' would have a happy life there.

"Well, you certainly are predictable," Cutter's voice said, making her jump.

He was leaning against her car.

"I figured you'd go to your parents house first, then here," he continued as he opened the door for her.

She smiled and got in the car, and let him drive them back to the ARC.

As they pulled in, Jenny noticed for the first time that the crater in the concrete made by the Future Anomaly had been filled it. Vaguely, she wondered how they had managed to explain the phenomenon to the public, but she supposed that it was not really her problem. She had more important things to worry about.

"Her name was Holly," Jenny informed Cutter as they pulled into the car park.

He looked at her sadly as he turned the engine off. "Pretty name."

"Yeah," Jenny sighed, making to leave the car, but Cutter stopped her with a hand on her shoulder.

"I want to discuss something with you - " he began.

"You're not going to propose are you?" she joked, closing the car door again.

"No," Cutter smirked. "I wanted to talk about Helen."

Jenny felt a familiar jolt of hate shoot through her at the thought of that woman.

"What about her?" she asked coolly.

"She needs to be found," Cutter explained. "She came through the anomaly with us, so there's a good chance she remembers everything as well. I think she's too dangerous to be left to roam through our history; she's already made it perfectly clear that she's out to destroy mankind."

"So what do we do?"

"Well, I think we should tell Lester," he replied, but obviously catching sight of her shocked expression, he corrected himself. "Not tell him everything of course; he'll think we're all barking. No, I think we should come up with some reasonable excuse why she needs to be found. I doubt Lester will take much persuasion; he's made it perfectly clear he doesn't like the idea of her running loose with the ability to jump through time."

"Okay, yeah," Jenny agreed, although how they were ever going to find her was anyone's guess.

Cutter nodded, and undid his seat belt, before hesitating.

"By the way, I'm not going to propose, but it might interest you to know that we're living together."

"What?" Jenny gapped. "How? When?"

"I have no idea, but before, Abby asked me how it was going since you've moved in," Cutter smirked. "Apparently, alternate reality Jenny and Nick weren't ones for wasting time."

"No, I guess not," Jenny replied, still shocked. "So all my things are at you're place?"

"No, all your things are at _our _place," Cutter corrected her. "Is that okay? I mean, we don't have to if you don't want to . . ."

"No Nick, it's fine," she said. "It's wonderful actually. It's just that . . . well . . . it's very soon . . ."

"Well technically, we've been living together for a month anyway," Cutter reasoned; he obviously thought she needed any persuasion.

She placed her hand on his leg and smiled.

"It's wonderful Nick, and I'm thrilled," she said truthfully.

He smiled in a relieved manner, and kissed her tenderly and slowly. However, they broke apart with a jolt when someone tapped on the window, Jenny complaining that he bit her lip. Cutter rolled the window down, muttering under his breath.

It was Conner.

"Steady on you two," he laughed in an embarrassed manner. "Sorry to bug you, but we've got another anomaly; we're going now."

Cutter sighed and looked at Jenny.

"We'll follow behind you," he said, rolling the window back up as Conner made his way back to his car.

"There's no rest for the wicked," Jenny smiled as she re-did her seatbelt.

* * *

**THE END**

**Aww I had a great time writing this! I hope everyone who read it enjoyed it too. **

**Thank you to all my reviewers, especially CakeyxClickx, Steph1, jojokidi and Kathryn Hart!**

**Let me know what you think of the ending.**

**Love Nikki x**


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